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Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is picking up after months of stagnation.
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After an almost daily back and forth over whether the strait is open or closed, blockaded or not, vessel traffic is up, but still well shy of the hundred-plus ships traversing the strait before the war.
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 40% and topping an average of $4 per gallon. Prices in April declined for a time, then, in May, hit new highs.
Jiachuan Wu is a senior interactive journalist for NBC News Digital.
Max Burman is deputy editor in the London bureau of NBC News Digital.
Joe Murphy is a data editor at NBC News.
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