U.S. CENTCOM says U.S. Naval Blockade on Hormuz has been “Lifted”
The roughly two-month U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has officially ended, according to U.S. Central Command on X. This marks a major de-escalation in the Gulf region, as early signs point to the beginning of normalization of energy flows through the critical waterway by tankers.
“Today, U.S. forces lifted the blockade on all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, in accordance with the President’s direction,” CENTCOM said.
CENTCOM continued, “American forces are not impeding the transit of vessels to or from Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. All U.S. military blockade enforcement efforts have ceased. Our great Naval Ships will remain in the general area to make sure that all aspects of the agreement are adhered to, obeyed and in full force and effect.”
Today, U.S. forces lifted the blockade on all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, in accordance with the President’s direction. American forces are not impeding the transit of vessels to or from Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of…
Attention on institutional desks is shifting toward normalization signals at the Strait of Hormuz maritime chokepoint.
At the time of writing at least 14 transits through the Strait of Hormuz were recorded on Thursday June 18 – up from just 2 on the same day last week pic.twitter.com/qcWLrWewCy
— Lloyd's List (@LloydsList) June 18, 2026
Earlier, we detailed how Saudi supertankers were beginning to exit the narrow waterway bound for Asia, while also noting that a massive backlog of tankers remains poised to exit the Arabian Gulf as the reopening process gets underway.
Bloomberg, citing the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency, reported that commercial vessel traffic at southern ports is moving toward normalization, with vessels carrying critical goods arriving and two tankers departing.
A separate Bloomberg story quoted Kuwait Petroleum Corp. CEO Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, who said in an interview that Kuwaiti output is expected to exceed 2 million barrels a day within a week.
“We anticipate that we can exceed 2 million barrels a day within one week from now.” Nawaf Al-Sabah.
He added, “And that pending availability of international commercial shipping, to reach Kuwaiti ports, we should be able to resume pre-war production within a matter of weeks.”
At pre-conflict levels, Kuwait was producing 2.5 million barrels a day, but has since slumped to as low as half a million barrels a day.
Earlier, BofA Global Research’s commodity team slashed its 2026E Brent forecast to $82/bbl from $ 93/bbl, citing a flood of crude set to hit the global market in the coming weeks and months as Hormuz normalization ramps up.
“The team has also cut its 2027E Brent forecast to US$70/bbl from US$78/bbl with a surplus of 1.1mb/d forecast during the year,” BofA analysts said.
Energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz are beginning to restart on Thursday after the interim U.S.-Iran peace deal, with several Saudi-controlled supertankers transiting the critical waterway and exiting the Arabian Gulf.
There is a massive backlog of crude and LNG tankers in the Arabian Gulf, preparing to exit the Hormuz chokepoint bound for Asia. Bloomberg says 31 supertankers, carrying about 62 million barrels of crude, could soon exit.
The actual number of crude and LNG tankers preparing to exit could be much higher, as some tankers may turn off their transponders. Once exited, many of those tankers are slated for ports in East Asia and will take roughly three weeks to arrive.
One of the key developments overnight was that three Saudi-controlled supertankers, including Bahri-controlled Saudi VLCCs Shaden, Jaham, and Awtad, switched on their transponders and began exiting the Arabian Gulf.
Maritime traffic remains far below normal levels and could take many months to return to normal.
“There are certain practical steps that we believe are necessary before the vessels that have been stranded in the Gulf for the last 110 days can resume transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” Sheila Cameron, CEO, and Neil Roberts, head of marine and aviation at the Lloyd’s Market Association, told Bloomberg in a statement.
Cameron continued, “The main requirement for recovery is stability and certainty for shipowners and insurers. The road to recovery in the Gulf will be a long and complicated one. It will take months for some sort of normality to return to international shipping with vessels in the wrong place and supply chains distorted.”
