Famous financial blog: The U.S. may join the attacks, reducing the number of merchant ships entering the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Gate News bot, a report from the well-known financial blog ZeroHedge states that due to Israel's attack on Iran, and more signs indicating that the United States may join the attack, the number of merchant ships entering the Strait of Hormuz has decreased, causing unrest in the shipping industry.

Among the vessels entering the strait, oil tankers are currently hardly affected, with about 40 to 44 oil tankers still navigating in both directions in the area. Oil tankers are a major component of the traffic in this strait, with over a quarter of the world's oil transported through this waterway between Iran and Oman. The transportation volume of liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas tankers also remains close to the usual level of seven to nine vessels per day.

Overall, the daily transit volume of the waterway remains within normal ranges, and most loading and unloading activities are proceeding as scheduled. It is important to clarify that analyzing trends from shipping traffic data takes time. Factors such as cargo loading plans, weather, and others can affect vessel navigation, and the time span covered by the snapshots is relatively short. Additionally, electronic interference affecting navigation signals in the area may also impact the results.

One of the reasons why the volume of oil tanker exports has not significantly declined is that Iran is rushing to ship its oil around the world before escalating tensions make exports impossible. As noted by Bloomberg, oil is pouring out of Iranian ports and being transported to deep-sea tankers to ensure that even if transportation is interrupted, Iran can maintain its revenue for at least a period of time.

Despite the surge in crude oil prices, the oil storage tanks at the country's key export terminal located on Kharg Island remain overflowing with crude oil. The storage tanks on Kharg Island are equipped with floating roofs that rise and fall with the filling and emptying of the tanks, which means that the storage level can be gauged by observing their shadows. Images from June 11 show that almost all the large storage tanks have their roofs significantly lower than the top of the tank walls. In short, the storage level in the tanks is only partially full.

A week later, on June 18 (a few days after the Israeli attack), a photo shows that these shadows have disappeared, indicating that the roof has risen to the top of the walls and the reservoir is overflowing. The tanks are still casting shadows on the ground nearby, confirming that the disappearance of the shadows is not due to a lack of sunlight. These two photos were taken around 2:40 PM local time, less than 10 minutes apart, and the geometric shapes of the sensors are almost the same.