Shafaq News- Washington (Updated at 22:37)

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Thursday it had rerouted 49 commercial vessels since maritime restrictions around Iran resumed on July 14.

CENTCOM added that its forces had disabled two vessels and boarded and inspected two others. It did not provide further details on the incidents.

U.S. Marine Corps aviation assets and personnel embarked aboard USS Boxer (LHD 4) support ongoing enforcement of the U.S. blockade against Iran. As of Aug. 6, CENTCOM redirected 49 commercial vessels, disabled 2, and boarded 2. pic.twitter.com/tbdPdKe7RH

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) August 6, 2026

Iran has kept tight control over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since the war erupted on February 28, 2026, requiring vessels to coordinate their transit with Iranian authorities, submit to inspection, and hold to a narrow corridor along the Iranian coast monitored by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Traffic through the waterway, which normally carries around a quarter of the world's seaborne oil and a fifth of its liquefied natural gas, fell by about 95% through the spring, leaving hundreds of vessels stranded and pushing war-risk insurance premiums sharply higher. Tehran has said passage will not return to pre-war conditions and has set up a Persian Gulf Strait Authority to manage the crossing. 

The United States rejected the restrictions and reimposed a naval blockade after an earlier ceasefire collapsed, redirecting dozens of commercial vessels, and resumed strikes on Iranian targets in early July after Tehran fired on ships using a route it had not authorized. Iran, in turn, accused Washington of breaking the memorandum of understanding the two sides reached in June and of launching attacks without first bringing the dispute to the agreed resolution committee, while warning that it would allow no route through the strait other than its own.

Iran and Oman are holding talks on a framework to manage passage through the strait, a track that has emerged as the main active diplomatic channel. The discussions center on arrangements for a temporary safe route, modeled in part on traffic-management systems used in other strategic waterways, though Tehran continues to insist that management of the strait is the responsibility of its coastal states.