Lloyd's List Intelligence counted 78 Hormuz transits in the week to 9 August against 95 the week before, and the sharpest fall, 63 to 45, came in ships with no Iranian link. Two trackers agree shipping has left the historic centre line, and they disagree on which shore it moved to. The UAE named the IRGC over two ADNOC ships, Iran turned an oil slick into a financial claim, and Kerman scrapped a petrol rise inside a day.
Every institutional count here disagrees with itself, from Hormuz transits to execution tolls to war-coalition membership.
Lloyd's List Intelligence counted 78 Hormuz transits in the week to 9 August against 95 the week before. The sharpest fall, 63 to 45, came in ships with no Iranian link.
United KingdomFranceUnited StatesTwo shipping trackers gave conflicting figures for Strait of Hormuz traffic on 11 August. One counted 14 vessels crossing, 11 via Iran's own unrecognised route. A second report put the same day at 6 vessels.
Lloyd's List Intelligence logged a second straight weekly fall in transits. Ships with no Iranian tie are now leaving the strait almost twice as fast as the fleet overall.
Abu Dhabi called an attack on two state-owned tankers an act of piracy by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, five days after leaving an almost identical incident unattributed.
United Arab EmiratesThe UAE (United Arab Emirates) Foreign Ministry named Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directly on 13 August. It called a strike on two ADNOC (Abu Dhabi's state oil firm) vessels an act of piracy, citing UN Security Council Resolution 2817.
Five days earlier a single ADNOC ship attack drew only a vaguer claim of an Iranian missile. This was the UAE's second attributed strike on its fleet in a week.
Esmaeil Baqaei said any future administration of the Strait of Hormuz must include payment for environmental damage to Iran's coastline, which he put in the trillions of dollars.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on 13 August that any future Hormuz arrangement must include payment for environmental damage to Iran's coastline. He put the cost at trillions of dollars but named no responsible party.
Oil reaching Qeshm Island traces to a Sovcomflot-linked tanker, the Caroline Bezengi. Baqaei's statement does not mention that vessel by name.
Thirty-two states and the EU's High Representative condemned Iran's use of the death penalty on 13 August, on an evidence base whose three monitors disagree by a factor of two.
United StatesUnited KingdomThirty-two states and the EU's High Representative condemned Iran's use of the death penalty on 13 August. The statement cited at least 56 national-security executions since 19 March.
Three monitors give very different 2026 totals. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center counts 916, Iran Human Rights Monitor roughly 463, and Hengaw 67 for July alone. The gap remains unreconciled.
The tanker leaking oil onto Omani and Iranian shores is a Cameroon-flagged, Sovcomflot-linked vessel sanctioned by five jurisdictions, aground since 21 June with 800,000 barrels of Russian crude.
United StatesThe tanker leaking oil onto Gulf shores has been identified as the Caroline Bezengi, a Sovcomflot-linked vessel sanctioned by five jurisdictions. It grounded on 21 June carrying roughly 800,000 barrels of Russian crude.
Oman's Environment Authority reports oil along a 40km strip at Ras Madrakah, expected to reach Masirah Island, a sea-turtle nesting site. Monsoon weather is hampering the cleanup.
Kerman province began selling petrol at the refinery rate of 872,000 rials a litre at 204 stations from midnight on 12 August, and stopped by the following morning.
United StatesKerman province began charging the market refinery rate for petrol, 872,000 rials a litre, at 204 stations from midnight on 12 August.
The governor scrapped the increase by the next morning after escalating to national authorities in person. A full tank at the new rate would have cost over a quarter of Iran's monthly minimum wage.
The mayor of Zawtar al-Sharqiya called the demolition of the four-storey Sheikh Naim Mahdi School the biggest blow of a month that has also taken a nursery, municipal buildings and his own house.
United StatesIsraeli forces detonated the four-storey Sheikh Naim Mahdi School in Eastern Zawtar, southern Lebanon, in a demolition reported on 12 August.
The town's mayor, Muhammad Ismail, called it the worst of a month of demolitions that have also destroyed a nursery, municipal buildings and his own home. Ceasefire talks on expanding protected zones remain stalled.
The US Treasury Secretary told Newsmax that Washington will announce measures never seen in the history of economic isolation of a country, with more the following week.
United StatesTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Newsmax on 13 August that Washington will soon announce economic-isolation measures against Iran 'never been seen' before. More detail is promised the following week.
He named no mechanism or target. The promise follows eight sanctions actions this year against Iran's shadow-banking networks, most recently on 7 August.
CENTCOM announced Task Force Falcon Strike on 13 August, then declined to say whether any country had joined it, even informally.
United StatesCENTCOM (US Central Command) announced Task Force Falcon Strike on 13 August, a planned multinational attack-drone command modelled on Task Force Scorpion Strike. That unit began operating from December 2025.
Asked directly, its spokesperson declined to say whether any country had actually joined the new unit, even informally. The announcement describes an invitation still in progress.
Up on the UAE-Iran legal track, sideways on Hormuz traffic itself. The specific hinge is whether Abu Dhabi takes its Resolution 2817 piracy attribution to a 2026 UN Security Council session, converting a foreign-ministry statement into a formal complaint against the IRGC by name over the 12-plus ADNOC vessels it says have been attacked since February; a statement costs Tehran nothing to ignore, a Council session does not. The second hinge is whether Bessent's promised measures arrive the week of 17 August as a named sanctions instrument or dissolve into another gap in the OFAC cadence, as happened for four days after 30 July.
