Graphic: Tracking ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz

Twenty percent of the world’s natural gas and oil used to pass through the strait.

April 14, 2026, 8:22 AM PDT

By Jiachuan Wu, Max Burman, and Joe Murphy

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has been at a near-standstill for weeks amid the Iran war, sending prices of oil and other key goods soaring. President Donald Trump made reopening the strait a condition of the ceasefire with Tehran, but with little change and no deal reached in peace talks, he announced a naval blockade of Iran.

NBC News is tracking the daily count of how many ships pass through the strait. Note that exact numbers may be higher; some ships manipulate their GPS trackers during transit. 

Iran launched strikes on ships and demanded tolls from vessels transiting the crucial waterway in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb. 28. This effectively shuttered a trade route through which some 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas once passed. Tehran has also suggested it may have mined the strait. Iranian media has published a map from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy suggesting safe inbound and outbound routes through the strait.

Gas prices in the U.S. spiked in March as a result of the war, increasing more than 30% and topping an average of $4 per gallon.