LONDON/PANAMA CITY: Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to have almost come to a standstill on August 14 after two more ships were attacked in the strategic waterway. At the same time, the United States said it had the military capability to keep a naval blockade of Iran in place indefinitely.

A senior Iranian source said on August 12 that negotiations aimed at building on a June agreement to end the war had made no progress. As the renewed ceasefire broke down, Iran resumed attacks on ships that it accused of attempting to pass through the strait without its permission.

Two vessels belonging to the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were attacked while traveling through the Strait of Hormuz on the evening of August 13, the UAE state news agency WAM reported. The United Arab Emirates government blamed Iran for the attacks. Iran did not immediately respond to the accusation.

Ship-tracking company Kpler reported that nine vessels traveled through the narrow waterway at the entrance to the Middle East on August 13. That was an increase from the five vessels recorded the previous day, but it was still below the August daily average of 12 crossings.

However, no visible vessel crossings were recorded early on August 14, according to ship-tracking data. Some ships could still have traveled through the strait without being detected because vessels can switch off their transponders. Even so, the level of traffic remained far below the more than 130 ships that crossed the Strait of Hormuz each day before the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran in February.

Torbjorn Solvedt, principal Middle East analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said the Strait remained one of Iran's most important sources of pressure during negotiations. "Alongside the threat to energy infrastructure in the region, Iran's ability to restrict shipping through the strait is ​its main source of leverage in negotiations," he said.

The United States has responded by maintaining a naval blockade of Iran, a move that has caused serious economic damage to the country. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the U.S. military had enough resources to keep naval forces in the region and continue enforcing the blockade.

Hegseth said the United States could maintain the blockade for as long as necessary by rotating ships in and out of the region.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said Washington was preparing to increase the financial pressure on Iran. He said the United States would announce further economic measures the following week.

"Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country," Bessent said in an interview on Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight" program.

Pressure Mounts on Trump

The continuing conflict has also created growing political pressure on U.S. President Donald Trump at home. The war has become unpopular among parts of the American public, while higher fuel prices have hurt Trump's approval ratings. The situation could also threaten his Republican Party's control of Congress in the November midterm elections.

Asian countries have also been trying to protect their future energy supplies as uncertainty grows around shipments from the Middle East. India's dependence on Russian crude reached a record level in July. At the same time, Asian refineries, major buyers of fuel from the Middle East, purchased U.S. crude this week to secure future supplies.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the United States has "total control" over the Strait of Hormuz. Before the war began, the waterway carried about one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. Iranian officials, however, have rejected Trump's claim.

Iran has said it will not allow normal shipping through the waterway to resume until its demands are met. Its conditions include removing economic sanctions imposed on Iran and releasing Iranian assets frozen abroad.

An Iranian parliamentary committee approved Tehran's plan for the strait on August 13, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The proposed plan includes a provision that would prohibit U.S., Israeli, and other countries considered "hostile" by Iran from moving their assets and equipment through the strategic waterway.