The Strait of Hormuz has seen a steep decline in commercial vessel traffic following Iran's latest announcement that it had closed the strategic waterway again.
Ship-tracking data cited by Iranian authorities on Sunday show that only 11 commercial vessels -- including eight tankers and three cargo ships -- transited the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours.
Early Sunday morning, the Navy of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that the Strait of Hormuz was closed, after it fired warning shots at a vessel that attempted to transit the strategic waterway via an unapproved route.
As a result of the incident, the strait would remain closed "until further notice" and "until the end of U.S. interference in this region," the Navy said in a statement.
According to a notice issued by Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) on Sunday, the review of passage applications for the strait will be resumed and necessary permits will be issued as scheduled once the situation calms down.
On the same day, Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on social media that Iran has taken control of the Strait of Hormuz with power and will preserve it with power as well.
He stressed that Iran will continue to firmly uphold its rights and interests in, and the security of, the Strait of Hormuz.
Commercial shipping traffic through Strait of Hormuz plummets
Several regions in southern Iran's Hormozgan province were attacked on Sunday evening, with one person killed and two others wounded on Farur Island, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Citing an informed source, Tasnim reported all victims were with the province's telecommunications company.
Earlier, the semi-official Fars news agency reported that explosions were heard Sunday evening in the port city of Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island, both in Hormozgan.
The explosion sounds came from east of Bandar Abbas and Mesen village south of Qeshm Island, it added.
Meanwhile, Iran's official news agency IRNA cited Qeshm Governor Hossein Amir-Teymouri as saying that 10 to 11 "enemy" projectiles had hit the island.
Amir-Teymouri added that only military targets had been struck, with no casualties caused, IRNA reported.
U.S. media reported Sunday that American forces had carried out several strikes on Iranian missile and air defense systems and had also targeted small speedboats belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) at several locations around the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. Central Command said on X that its forces began launching more strikes against Iran "to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz."
Earlier the day, in response to fresh attacks by the United States, the IRGC launched counterattacks against American assets in the region, targeting a U.S. air base in Jordan, Patriot air defense systems in Kuwait, U.S. military communications and radar stations in Bahrain, and the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
1 killed, 2 wounded in latest attacks on southern Iran: media
