Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen to its lowest level since May, Reuters reported on Sunday, just days after President Donald Trump insisted that the critical waterway was "open" and under the full "control" of the United States.

The strait, which separates Iran from Oman, is one of the world's most important chokepoints for seaborne oil trade; the US Energy Information Administration has long identified it as the corridor through which roughly a fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption passes, making any sustained disruption there a focal point for global energy markets.

According to shipping data reviewed by Reuters, an average of 10 commodity ships per day transited the strait over the past 10 days, a sharp drop from the week prior. Six vessels transited the strait on Sunday and only two on Saturday, "mostly using the Iranian route."

On Aug. 27, Trump declared that "the Strait of Hormuz is open" and "we have control." A day earlier, in an interview with Glenn Beck, he again stated that "the Strait is open" and that the United States was guiding "a lot of ships through the strait now," calling it "a very functioning strait" with "a lot of oil pouring out." The White House has echoed the claim that America controls the strait, a position Trump has maintained since at least Aug. 10, when he said the United States controlled it "100%."

The decline in traffic comes as average diesel prices hit an all-time high in the United States, surpassing $5.85 per gallon for the first time in history last Friday, breaking the previous record set in 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Average regular gasoline prices have also set records, exceeding $4 per gallon every day in August for the first time, according to the American Automobile Association. The Reuters report follows what its headline described as US and Iranian strikes, and the gap between official assurances of a functioning waterway and daily transit counts is likely to keep tanker tracking data and fuel price figures under close scrutiny in the coming weeks.

"On Sunday, one very large crude carrier and three bulk carriers laden with metals, grains or oilseeds entered the strait, Kpler data showed," Reuters reported. "A tanker carrying refined products loaded from a Saudi port attempted to exit but was turned back, data from LSEG showed. There has been no VLCC exiting the strait since Wednesday, according to Kpler data."