Though U.S. President Donald Trump has been repeatedly saying the war is over, conflicts over the Strait of Hormuz are still playing out, albeit without the use of force. The MoU signed between the U.S. and Iran says Iran will conduct a dialogue with Oman, the other littoral state of the strait — considered to be among the few allies Iran has in the region — over the future administration of the strait.

But Iran has indicated that no talks have taken place between the two sides on the issue. Both sides have gone ahead and unilaterally announced plans for the temporary period of ship transit envisaged as covering a 60-day period.

On Thursday (June 25), the Naval Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz must use only the routes officially designated by Iran, as per a report by the Islamic Republic News Agency. The agency referred to “a new shipping route [that] had been announced by certain authorities without prior consultation with Tehran.”

Two days ago, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced an evacuation plan for stranded ships and seafarers in the Persian Gulf that referred to a plan by Oman. Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), had said: “This large-scale operation will be carried out in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, and all other coastal states in the region, the United States, and the maritime industry.” But Iran has now issued a disclaimer to this.

A press conference to be addressed by Mr. Dominguez on Thursday was cancelled at the last minute.

He was expected to address the disparities in the two versions and the fact that the IMO statement referred only to the Oman plan.

The Oman plan did not refer to Iran by name and only indicated a route along its coast that ships could take while transiting. It, however, said the traditional route at the centre of the strait, which some 130 ships used every day to transit the strait, was not safe, referring to mines laid there, and indicated the “northern” route, referring to the Iranian route.

‘Dangerous route’

In a statement issued early Thursday, the IRGC Navy described the newly announced route as “unacceptable and extremely dangerous,” stressing that it had been introduced without the knowledge or coordination of Iranian authorities.

Since the announcement of the ceasefire, ships had started trickling out through the northern route along Iran with its permission and in coordination with the IRGC Navy.

Several weeks later, however, ships started transiting the strait along a southern route near Oman in coordination with the U.S. Navy. When the war started, it was estimated that some 1,000 to 1,500 ships were stranded west of the Strait of Hormuz. The IMO had indicated that more than 20,000 seafarers were stranded. Two days ago, the IMO brought that figure down to below 11,000 seafarers. Industry sources estimate that at the time of the signing of the MoU, some 500–600 ships were still stranded.

Meanwhile, traffic across the strait has picked up since the signing of the MoU. Lloyd’s List estimates that in the week of June 8-14 there were 33 transits. But the following week, when the MoU was signed, some 125 transits took place. This includes some 60 ships that took the Oman route.

Experts are optimistic about eventual cooperation between Oman and Iran. Col. Rajeev Agarwal, a foreign policy expert, says Oman has been the peacemaker in the conflicts and pointed to how the Omani Foreign Minister was mediating right until the start of attacks by the U.S. and Israel.

Barring a stray missile or two, Iran had refrained from attacking Oman during the war. “Historically, Oman has always maintained a neutral foreign policy. The only trusted and stable relationship in the Gulf region for Iran is with Oman,” says Mr. Agarwal, author of the book, “Between Tehran and Tel Aviv – Gaza’s Story of Unending War.” “Eventually they will work together on the strait.”

A total of 25 commercial vessels crossed the newly reopened Strait of Hormuz on Thursday (June 18, 2026), the highest number since mid-April, according to data from maritime tracking firm AXSMarine published on Friday.

The spike came after Iran and the United States agreed to reopen the crucial route under an agreement to end the war, but before the cancellation of talks between the sides in Switzerland that had been planned under that deal.

On June 18 “we observed 25 verified commercial vessel crossings through the Strait of Hormuz – the highest single-day count since 18 April and more than five times the average daily level recorded during the first ten days of June,” AXSMarine said in a news release.

Iranian forces effectively closed off the strait after U.S. and Israeli strikes sparked the war on February 28. Maritime authorities reported dozens of attacks on ships in the area.

Iran later briefly reopened the global trade artery to commercial traffic, prompting a short spike in crossings on April 18.

Before the war, about 120 vessels a day had passed through the strait, according to leading shipping journal Lloyd’s List.

A fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports passed through the strait in peacetime, according to economists.

AXSMarine said crossings averaged 7.6 a day from the start of March.

The number of crossings on Thursday may be higher, as some ships turn off or manipulate their AIS transponder signals to avoid detection while passing through the strait.

Thursday’s “spike came amid the largest AIS signal disruption event we have observed in the Persian Gulf since the conflict began, with more than 200 commercial vessels affected simultaneously by spoofing or abnormal AIS behaviour,” it said.

Shipping groups warned this week that plans for the resumption of traffic were still not clear and it was not thought safe to start exiting the Gulf through the strait.

Jakob Larsen, chief security officer at leading shipping lobby BIMCO, said however that the body “expects an international coordination body to be established shortly to facilitate transits”.

The International Maritime Organization’s chief Arsenio Dominguez said in April that the body was working on a plan to ensure safe transit for ships stuck in the Gulf by the conflict.

More than 500 commercial vessels are still stuck in the Gulf, with about 11,000 seafarers on board, according to the IMO. It says 20,000 seafarers in the region have been affected by the war overall.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Thursday (June 18, 2026) that it was ready to begin defining the “concrete steps” needed to implement a U.S.-Iran deal to end the West Asia war.

US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a deal on Wednesday (June 17) meant to end the West Asia war, with Tehran agreeing to dilute its enriched uranium in return for large-scale economic relief.

“Now it’s for us to sit down with our American colleagues, our Iranian colleagues, and start formulating the concrete steps that will have to be taken,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told reporters in Geneva.

The deal aims to draw a line under the war launched by the United States and Israel February 28, prompting Iran to counter-attack with missile and drone salvos across the region — and effectively shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for the world economy.

Washington responded by blocking shipping to and from Iranian ports.

Under the terms of the deal released by US officials, Iran will dilute its enriched uranium stocks, possibly by “down-blending on site under the supervision of the IAEA”, the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

“This is a very complex operation and it’s not a secret so we will have to be very, very detailed,” Grossi said, adding that the outcome would depend “on the political will of both sides”.

“Anything can work when two sides decide that they want something to be done,” he said, adding that they were looking to his organisation to tell “them what is needed”.

– ‘Impartial’ –

The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440 kilogrammes of uranium enriched to 60 percent — close to the level needed for a bomb — as Israel and the United States launched their first attacks in June last year.

Iran suspended cooperation with the IAEA then and inspectors have not seen the material since.

The UN nuclear watchdog’s governing board last week approved a Western resolution demanding that Iran immediately provide information and access to its uranium stockpile and production facilities.

Tehran slammed that resolution as “counter-productive” at a time when talks were going on, and charged it was “politically-motivated” — something Grossi vehemently denied.

“The work of the IAEA is an impartial, technical work,” he said.

“The fact that in this memorandum of understanding that has been signed, the indispensable role of the IAEA is recognised… it says it all in terms of our credibility and the indispensable role we have to play.”

The agreement is only a temporary arrangement meant to give time for starting detailed negotiations on the far more complex issue of long-term control over Iran’s nuclear power ambitions, which Washington has long suspected of harbouring a secret bomb-making programme.

“I think it’s good that the memorandum is there,” Grossi said.

“Now the technical work starts.”

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Shipowners will not ​resume transit through the Strait of Hormuz for weeks ‌until they are confident that the U.S.-Iran ​deal is “material”, the chief executive of Japan’s ⁠Mitsui O.S.K. Lines told the Financial Times in an interview published on Tuesday (June 16, 2026).

The Iran war that began ‌on February 28 with U.S.-Israeli strikes largely stopped shipping through the transit route ‌for around a fifth of the world’s oil ‌and ⁠liquefied natural gas supply, along with products ⁠such as aluminium and urea.

Mitsui O.S.K., one of Japan’s big three shipping firms, has a fleet of more ​than 900 vessels, including ‌bulk carriers, tankers and ferries.

“What will have to come in place is not just a simple agreement between the relevant countries, but it ‌has to be material and translated into ​the real situations in the Strait of Hormuz, so that shipping lines can ⁠make themselves comfortable to go through,” Mitsui O.S.K.’s Jotaro Tamura told FT before U.S President Donald Trump ‌announced a deal to end the war in Iran.

“Given the experiences in the last couple of months, I think it’s reasonable to assume that it may take at least a couple of weeks or if not a month,” ‌Tamura told the paper.

Mitsui O.S.K. did not immediately ​respond to a Reuters request for comment. The agreement between Washington and Tehran being finalised had ⁠not changed Tamura’s view, the FT report said.

President ⁠Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that ships loaded with oil ‌are starting to move out of the strait, “going along the Southern ‘Highway,’ which is totally ​safe, secure, and pristine”.

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, on Monday (June 15, 2026) denounced the deal between the United States and Iran to end the war in West Asia, including in Lebanon, insisting his country was not bound by it.

“Trump’s agreement does not bind us… we are not party to this agreement. It does not safeguard our security,” Ben Gvir said on his Telegram channel, in what was the first reaction from an Israeli official to the deal.

“We must not settle for anything less than the dismantling of Hezbollah. We must not withdraw from a single inch of territory that our soldiers have captured and cleared of terrorist infrastructure,” he said.