Iran has moved to choke the Strait of Hormuz again, broadcasting that no vessel is allowed through and backing the warning with force. Reuters reported ships received Iranian navy radio messages declaring the strait “completely closed again,” while AP and UKMTO said a tanker came under fire from IRGC-linked gunboats and a container vessel was also hit.

The move reverses Tehran’s brief reopening of the waterway just a day earlier. That matters because the U.S. blockade announced by CENTCOM was aimed at ships entering and leaving Iranian ports, and explicitly said it would not block navigation to non-Iranian ports. Tehran is now using the strait itself as leverage, saying passage will stay restricted while the American blockade remains in place.

The fallout is immediate. Roughly one-fifth of global oil and LNG flows normally pass through Hormuz, and Reuters says hundreds of ships and about 20,000 seafarers are still stranded in the Gulf. India has already summoned Iran’s ambassador after two India-flagged vessels were attacked while trying to cross.

This is not a clean, stable shutdown so much as Iran reimposing armed control over the world’s most sensitive energy chokepoint. A few vessels had started moving again, but normal shipping is clearly not back, and even Britain is warning that full passage still has not resumed. If this continues, the next tanker incident could snap the fragile diplomatic track and send energy markets lurching again.