On the Strait of Hormuz, BBC finds seized ships and shark fishermen as uneasy calm returns
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- The IRGC seized two container ships — the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and Liberia-flagged Epaminondas — in April at the height of the conflict, and both remain held despite the ceasefire, with dozens of other cargo vessels waiting offshore for Iranian permission to transit.
- At least 96 US strikes hit Bandar Abbas and its surroundings between 28 February and the 8 April ceasefire, according to ACLED data, while Iran's Red Crescent reports 261 people killed across Hormuzgan province.
- An Israeli strike on 26 March destroyed half an apartment block on Khushnoodi Street behind Bandar Abbas's main university, killing three people including IRGC Navy commander Alireza Tangsiri, whose death Iran confirmed four days later.
- US-Israeli strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along with other senior Iranian leaders, yet Bandar Abbas mayor Mehdi Nobani argued the appointment of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had united rather than divided Iran.
- Trump repeatedly threatened Iran "won't have a country" if it did not reopen the strait, but Iran has not fully reopened it — and analysts told the BBC the waterway remains Tehran's key leverage in ongoing peace talks.
- Around a fifth of the world's oil and gas shipments transit the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime, making Bandar Abbas's position at the narrowest point central to both the global economy and Iran's "asymmetric warfare" doctrine.
Why it matters: A fifth of global oil and gas transits the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran's refusal to fully reopen it despite Trump's threats to "end" the country keeps the chokepoint as Tehran's leverage in peace talks — the BBC's reporting of 96 US strikes, 261 confirmed dead in Hormuzgan province, and seized ships still impounded shows the concrete cost of a standoff with no resolution yet.
