Hormuz Traffic Hits One-Week Low; Houthis Kill 6 in Red Sea

Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to a one-week low of eight vessels on Tuesday, according to Kpler data reported by Reuters, a fraction of the roughly 130 ships a day that passed through the waterway before the war began on February 28.

The daily tally fell below the 10-day average of about 12 and was the lowest count since August 5, as the conflict and a diplomatic stalemate kept shipping companies away.

In the Red Sea, six people aboard a cargo vessel were killed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, Yemen's coast guard said Tuesday. They are the first known deaths from Houthi attacks on shipping since the latest round of fighting in Yemen began. The strikes came alongside Houthi attacks on the government-held Red Sea port city of Mokha and other areas that the Yemeni military says have killed dozens of government troops and civilians since last week.

The escalation, which has also targeted oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia and Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, could reignite Yemen's civil war after a 2022 truce. Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the Houthis' chief negotiator and spokesperson, accused Saudi Arabia in a social media post of exploiting the ceasefire to tighten an air and sea blockade imposed in 2015. He said the group is open to negotiations but that any settlement must include lifting the blockade.

Separately, U.S. Central Command said a Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the engine room of the Panama-flagged Vela Nova in the Gulf of Oman after its civilian crew allegedly ignored repeated warnings. It was unclear whether anyone was hurt. "The ship is no longer transiting to Iran in violation of the U.S. blockade, which remains in full effect," CENTCOM said. As of Tuesday, the command said it had disabled three non-compliant vessels, boarded two and redirected 55 commercial ships.

Iran's army deputy commander for executive affairs, Brig. Gen. Alireza Sheikh, told the state news agency IRNA that "more than 75% of Iran's missile and drone capabilities remain intact and ready," singling out the Arash drone, which he said had "become the enemy's nightmare." He said Iran's strategy was to impose disproportionate costs using relatively inexpensive systems. "Victory in diplomacy is the product of power on the battlefield," he said.

Pakistan's interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, IRNA reported. Pakistan's defense minister told Bloomberg the U.S. and Iran are close to "some sort of an arrangement."