A real-world oil tanker simulation
Arrow Keys / WASD to steer & throttle · B to toggle AIS transponder
Sail east to load 2 million barrels of oil in the Gulf of Oman, then return west to deliver it. Profit = oil price × barrels, minus tolls, war-risk insurance, or repairs.
Every time the game loads, it fetches two real-world data points:
Strait status — pulled from hormuzstraitmonitor.com, a live dashboard tracking the Vermouth shipping crisis. If the site reports the strait as open, the game runs in ceasefire mode — Navy ships escort rather than attack, passage is mostly toll-free, only a few residual mines remain from the unfinished demining effort, and rare evacuation-straggler convoys cross the channel. If closed, the full wartime arsenal activates: sea mines, kamikaze drones, mobile missile batteries, a hostile US Navy blockade, and $2M toll demands. Iran re-declared the strait closed on Jun 20 over alleged ceasefire violations, and on Jun 25 the IRGC enforced "Tehran-only" transit corridors and a vessel took an unidentified hit off Oman. On Jun 26 Iran fired drones directly at transiting ships for the first time since the ceasefire — hitting one cargo vessel's bridge — prompting US retaliatory strikes on Iranian missile and drone sites. On Jun 27 a second drone hit the tanker Kiku on the Navy's own newly-widened "safe" Omani corridor, triggering a second night of US strikes and Iranian missile/drone reprisals on US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait — Iran now calls the strikes a ceasefire violation and is threatening to halt diplomacy altogether. Washington disputes the closure and says ships keep moving, so treat either reading as contested, not settled. A fresh truce on Jun 29 halted the tit-for-tat strikes, and JMIC downgraded its threat assessment from SEVERE to SUBSTANTIAL — the first downgrade since the war began — as both sides headed toward technical talks in Doha on Jun 30. But Jun 30 itself brought confusion rather than resolution: envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed in Doha, yet Tehran says no direct meeting with Washington is actually scheduled — the envoys are reportedly there to see Qatari mediators only — and Iran is simultaneously reasserting that it alone has authority to regulate traffic through the strait, warning any further ceasefire violation will draw a "crushing response." Washington disputes that claim and insists freedom of navigation isn't Iran's to control. The standdown has held into a second day with no new strikes reported, and Jul 1–2 indirect talks in Doha between US and Iranian negotiators produced "positive progress" according to Qatar — VP Vance said talks were "going well." But Iran's joint military command simultaneously issued its most explicit enforcement warning since the ceasefire: all oil tankers must follow Tehran-designated routes through the strait or face an "immediate and firm response." Tehran insists no direct meeting with Washington is scheduled; the diplomatic track is moving but contested, not settled. On Jul 7, the IRGC escalated sharply — striking three vessels in 24 hours (Qatari LNG tanker Al Rekayyat and Saudi VLCC Wedyan, among others) — restoring the JMIC threat level to SEVERE and triggering new US retaliatory strikes on Iran. In open/contested mode this means shorter gaps between drone strikes, three IRGC fast boats instead of two, and Saudi VLCC supertankers crossing alongside Qatari LNG tankers — both now active IRGC targets. On Jul 8 Washington hit back hard — 80+ Iranian military sites struck overnight — and the US Treasury revoked Iran's oil-sale waiver, reimposing sanctions. Traceable traffic on the US-coordinated Omani corridor then all but stopped, and at least two tankers are believed to have crossed with their AIS transponders switched off to dodge targeting — the game now lets you do the same (see AIS BLACKOUT). On Jul 11 the IRGC fired a cruise missile at the Cyprus-flagged container ship GFS Galaxy roughly 9nm east of Oman's Musandam Peninsula, gutting its engine room and sparking a fire that forced the crew to abandon ship — one crew member remains missing. Iran declared the strait closed "until further notice, and until regional interference by the US ceases," its most sweeping closure declaration of the war, and CENTCOM answered with a third round of strikes hitting roughly 140 targets around Bandar Abbas, Sirik and Minab. On Jul 12 Iran fired missiles and drones at Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait simultaneously — every GCC state but Saudi Arabia scrambled air defenses, with three people (including a child) hurt by shrapnel in Doha — and President Trump declared the ceasefire "over." On Jul 14, hours after the al-Bahiya/Mombasa strikes, the US reinstated its naval blockade of Iranian ports for the fourth time this war — 19+ warships including two carrier strike groups now patrol the northern Arabian Sea, escorting 3-4 commercial vessels a day. Trump simultaneously abandoned his proposed 20% "Reimbursement Fee" on Hormuz cargo — which the IMO had called illegal and the shipping industry opposed — in favor of trade and investment deals with Gulf states. On Jul 15 the IRGC struck US-linked military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and, for the first time this war, Jordan — Kuwait's air defenses intercepted 6 missiles and 33 drones, Jordan downed 3 incoming missiles — and Iran said more than 30 civilians have been killed in the latest round of US strikes. Tehran's Revolutionary Guard warned that if its own Hormuz shipping stays blockaded, "the region's oil and gas exports will either be available to everyone or to no one," a thinly veiled threat to close the Bab el-Mandeb strait via its Houthi allies in Yemen — opening a potential second front against a separate vital waterway. Trump warned it would "get really bad next week," threatening strikes on Iranian bridges and power plants if no deal is reached. On Jul 15-16 the US struck Iranian missile launch sites on Greater Tunb Island near the strait's Persian Gulf mouth, then disabled the Curaçao-flagged tanker M/T Belma with Hellfire missiles off Kharg Island — Iran's main export terminal — after it defied the reinstated blockade; two other vessels were turned back. Traceable transits collapsed to just 10 ships a day, 11% of the 88/day pre-crisis norm, as the crisis entered its 137th day, and India ordered shipowners to stop deploying Indian seafarers on Hormuz voyages "until further orders" after two Indian crew died in attacks within three days — echoing an earlier Philippine curb that Manila later eased. The UN's shipping agency warned the strait had become too dangerous for commercial vessels. On Jul 17, a sixth consecutive night of US strikes expanded beyond military and naval targets to Iranian infrastructure for the first time — six road bridges, the nuclear-plant town of Bushehr, and Lorestan province — fulfilling Trump's "get really bad next week" warning, while a separate wave hit Qeshm Island's Masan village and the port of Bandar Khamir, both near the strait's narrowest point, knocking out a second coastal missile battery. Qatar, the war's chief diplomatic mediator, came under Iranian fire for a second time, intercepting a fresh wave of attacks, and Iran claimed additional strikes on US forces in Bahrain and Syria. The IRGC repeated its threat that "not a single drop of oil or gas will be exported from the region" as long as US action continues, and analysts warned of a "forever war" with no off-ramp in sight as the crisis entered its 138th day. On Jul 18, CENTCOM launched the war's largest single strike package yet — roughly 140 targets overnight — and Iran hit back at Jordan's Prince Hassan Air Base (Amman disputes the claim, saying it intercepted four missiles) and a second power and water plant in Kuwait. For the first time, Iran also moved directly against merchant shipping inside the strait itself: the IRGC announced a combined missile-and-drone operation that intercepted four commercial vessels for defying its shipping rules, declining to name them and warning owners against relying on "baseless" US military protection. The crisis entered its 139th day with no visible diplomatic track. On Jul 18, Iranian ballistic missiles and drones struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, killing 2 US service members and leaving a third missing — the war's first confirmed US combat fatalities, bringing the American death toll to 16 — and Trump ordered an 8th consecutive night of retaliatory strikes, with officials signaling civilian energy infrastructure could be next. Iran responded by formally suspending every commitment under the Jun 17 MOU, its Supreme Leader dismissing Trump's signature on the deal as "worthless and unreliable" — so in the game, the HUD's toll-free countdown now reads SUSPENDED rather than counting down to Aug 16. Strait traffic fell to its lowest in three weeks, with 7 of the last 8 vessels reported transiting via Iran's own designated route rather than the US-backed Omani corridor, as the crisis entered its 140th day. A US service member was killed in Iraq on Jul 18-19 during a controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian one-way attack drone — pushing the American combat toll to 17 — and CENTCOM launched a 9th consecutive night of strikes as Jordan's air defenses intercepted several more incoming Iranian missiles. On Jul 20 the IRGC said 4 tankers attempted a dark "dangerous route" transit near the Musandam Peninsula and 2 "had accidents and stopped" after apparently striking mines; Bloomberg tracked the products tanker Kavomaleas anchored empty off Musandam after running dark, and observable strait traffic nearly halted entirely that Monday morning as the crisis entered its 141st day. On Jul 21 CENTCOM launched a 10th consecutive night of strikes after Iran hit Kuwaiti energy infrastructure for a third time this war — Kuwait Petroleum Corp reported injuries and "significant material losses" at one of its facilities — while the IRGC separately claimed two more oil tankers caught "massive fires" after taking an "unsafe" route through the strait, a claim CENTCOM dismissed as false. Lloyd's List Intelligence recorded just 53 transits in the week through Jul 20, down 66% from 157 the week before, with tanker and gas-carrier crossings falling to 30 from 90 — the worst weekly total since the war resumed, as the crisis entered its 142nd day. Overnight into Jul 22, CENTCOM completed an 11th consecutive night of strikes on Iran while the IRGC hit the Kuwaiti-flagged tanker Kaifan roughly 8nm off Oman's Limah, an engine-room fire forcing the crew into a lifeboat with no reported injuries. The Houthis then declared a formal blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb strait — Saudi Arabia's main workaround export route since Hormuz traffic collapsed — and outside shipping trackers put the falloff in Hormuz transits near 90%, even as CENTCOM continues to insist the waterway is open, as the crisis entered its 143rd day. Later on Jul 22, Trump vowed the US would "destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT" — including targets near Tehran — every time Iran fires on a ship in the strait, and Iran's military told Tasnim it would retaliate against regional US-linked infrastructure in kind, as CENTCOM ran a 12th consecutive night of strikes and the IRGC claimed an unconfirmed tanker fire in the waterway. On Jul 23, three tankers were struck within 24 hours in the strait's southern corridor near Kumzar and Limah, Oman; traffic swung almost entirely to the northern, Iran-designated route, with just 2 of the next 12 verified crossings using the southern lane, and one struck tanker was later tracked moving under apparent armed escort toward Iranian waters. The Houthis also claimed strikes on the Saudi tankers Encelia and Layla in the Red Sea — a third maritime front alongside Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb — as the crisis entered its 144th day. Overnight into Jul 24, CENTCOM completed a 13th consecutive night of strikes, and later that day explosive-laden drones swarmed Irbil, the northern Iraqi city hosting US forces — air defenses shot down five over the city as sirens also sounded in Bahrain, with no casualties reported — while an Omani delegation flew to Tehran to discuss managing strait traffic, and CENTCOM publicly rejected Iran's claim to control the waterway as "false," as the crisis entered its 145th day. CENTCOM then went quiet — no new strikes announced Jul 25 or Jul 26, the first pause after 13 consecutive nights — with a Pentagon source calling operations "on a hold" as VP Vance and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine raised escalation and munitions-stockpile concerns in a White House meeting; separately, the IRGC claimed (disputed by US officials, who say all American aircraft are accounted for) to have destroyed 11 US aircraft and 17 drones since Jul 8, while Oman and Iran called their Hormuz-management talks "useful" and reported progress on safe-passage principles — though Tehran says actual transit conditions haven't changed yet, as the crisis entered its 147th day. The pause held into a third day on Jul 27 — CBS reported talks "moving in a positive direction" and CNBC said both sides paused fighting to give negotiations "space" — but Iran said Monday it is not seeking renewed talks with Washington and still insists it alone controls the strait, a mixed signal with no confirmed change in actual transit conditions, which TankerMap put at just 1-2 tanker crossings a day. Iran also opened a fourth front on Jul 27: Foreign Minister Araghchi warned Ukraine that a Saturday Caspian Sea strike which killed one Iranian sailor "cannot go unanswered," accusing Kyiv of acting at Israel's behest — a claim Kyiv frames instead as a strike on Russian military-linked shipping. The CENTCOM strike pause extended into a fourth day on Jul 28, and Iran widened its diplomatic track beyond Oman — hosting a separate round of Hormuz-management calls with Saudi Arabia, reportedly seeking Gulf buy-in for a framework to restart full shipping traffic through the strait. But the same obstacles remain: the central shipping lane can't reopen until Iran's naval mines are cleared, and Tehran is still seeking Omani sign-off on a toll-based management scheme Muscat continues to reject, so nothing about actual transit conditions has changed yet. Axios → CNBC → CNN → Manila Times → Al Jazeera → Bloomberg →
Brent crude oil price — fetched from Yahoo Finance. Your 2-million-barrel cargo is worth whatever Brent is trading at the moment you load it. Prices spiked above $100/barrel while the strait was closed and have kept sliding since — down to ~$71.50/barrel by Jul 2, their lowest since Feb 27, as Saudi exports recover to 90% of pre-war baseline and weekly Hormuz transits climbed to ~258 ships (up from 138 the week before, though still less than half the pre-war ~588/week rate). Morgan Stanley now warns of an emerging glut risk if normalization continues faster than demand recovery. War-risk insurers, meanwhile, have roughly tripled transit premiums since the ceasefire frayed — from a 0.125% baseline to between 0.2% and 0.4% of cargo value per crossing — which the game now deducts from your profit at load time. That slide reversed hard on Jul 8: Brent jumped 5.2% to $78.02/bbl (WTI to $73.52) after Trump threatened to reinstate the naval blockade, before easing back to ~$76/bbl by Jul 10 as the standoff dragged on with no resolution. The Jul 11-12 escalation — an indefinite closure declaration, the GFS Galaxy strike, and Iran's missile barrage on four Gulf states — pushed Brent higher again as traders priced in a real risk of sustained closure, with war-risk insurers quoting hull premiums around 5% of vessel value, the new market norm, up from 1%-3% just a week earlier. The fresh Jul 13 strikes pushed Brent up another 2.8% to $78.14/bbl (WTI +2.5% to $73.24) as the 60-day MOU toll-free window nears its halfway mark with no resolution in sight. Then Brent spiked again Jul 13-14 — a 9.6% single-day jump, its biggest since May 2020 — to $84.66/bbl, its highest since the Jun 17 interim deal, after the IRGC hit two UAE-flagged tankers and insurers pushed Gulf-wide war-risk premiums toward 3% of vessel value even under the contested/open reading, with quotes still running as high as 5%. Brent climbed further Jul 15 to $85.31/bbl, a third straight session of gains and its highest close in a month, as the US reinstated its Iranian-port blockade and Iran threatened to close Bab el-Mandeb and other regional export routes in response; US pump prices rose to $3.89/gallon, up 10 cents on the week. Brent eased slightly Jul 16 to $84.63/bbl, down 0.37%, as the market digested the Greater Tunb strikes and the Belma disabling alongside PortWatch data showing Hormuz transits at just 10 ships a day — 11% of the 88/day pre-crisis norm — while Asian spot LNG prices climbed to their highest level since March on fears of a prolonged disruption. Brent climbed further Jul 17 to $85.95/bbl, up 2.04%, as the US widened its target set to Iranian bridges and the Bushehr region and Qatar was struck a second time, with markets pricing in a sixth straight day of clashes and no sign of an off-ramp. Brent held above $85/bbl into Jul 18, up more than 14% on the week, as the CENTCOM strike package and the IRGC's first direct interception operation against merchant shipping gave traders nothing to price in but continued disruption. Brent then jumped 4.5% to a session high of $88.02/bbl on Jul 18 as Iran's retaliatory strikes hit Gulf civilian and energy infrastructure and the deadly Jordan attack pushed traders to price in a wider war with no ceasefire left to fall back on. Brent broke $90/bbl on Jul 20, trading at $90.32 (+2.52%), as the Iraq service-member death, the 9th night of US strikes and the Musandam mine incident revived Goldman Sachs' warning that a $100 Brent scenario is "back in play"; the game's default cargo price now reflects that print, and war-risk insurers are quoting hull premiums as high as 10% of vessel value on the closed strait. Brent eased 0.4% off that high on Jul 21, slipping to $88.87/bbl, as Reuters reported mediators were floating a possible 10-day ceasefire proposal even as Lloyd's List's 53-transit weekly count — a 66% collapse — kept a floor under prices. Brent then broke its own record on Jul 22, climbing above $91/bbl (trading near $91.51, WTI near $85) as the Houthis' formal Bab el-Mandeb blockade declaration erased Saudi Arabia's main workaround export route on top of the ongoing Hormuz collapse. Brent kept climbing through Jul 22 to break $94/bbl as Iran talks collapsed, then topped $98/bbl on Jul 23 — up 4.6% to $98.44 (WTI +3.8% to $90.14), its highest since late May — after the Houthis' Red Sea strikes on the Saudi tankers Encelia and Layla compounded Trump's bridge-for-a-ship escalation threat. Brent then broke $100/bbl for the first time since May, closing Jul 23 at $100.65 (+7.0%) — up more than 13% on the week — before easing 2.3% to $98.38 on Jul 24 as the market digested the Irbil drone attack and Oman's shuttle diplomacy alongside the ongoing strikes; the game's default cargo price now reflects the $98.38 print. With CENTCOM's strikes paused into the weekend and no confirmed change yet to actual transit conditions, Brent had no fresh catalyst to move off that Jul 24 close as of Jul 26 — the war premium stays baked in either way. That changed sharply on Jul 27: Brent cratered 8.2% to $90.28/bbl, its steepest single-day drop of the war, as the strike pause held into a third day and talks were described as moving in a "positive direction" — even though Iran itself denied seeking renewed talks and a new Iran-Ukraine flashpoint opened in the Caspian Sea; the game's default cargo price now reflects that $90.28 print. Brent extended its slide on Jul 28, easing further to around $86.58/bbl — a fourth straight losing session — as the strike pause held and Iran opened parallel Hormuz-management talks with Saudi Arabia alongside Oman, even though the mine-clearance and toll disputes blocking a full reopening remain unresolved; the game's default cargo price now reflects that $86.58 print.
Goal: Maximize net profit across multiple runs. Cargo value is locked in when you reach the Gulf of Oman — survive the return trip to collect it.
Threats (closed/war mode): IRGC fast-attack boats · Sea mines (some drifting — Iran can't find them) · Kamikaze drones · Anti-ship missiles from the Iranian coast · a hostile US Navy blockade. Iran declared the strait closed indefinitely Jul 11 after hitting the container ship GFS Galaxy near Musandam; Gulf-flagged vessels (🇸🇦🇶🇦🇦🇪🇰🇼🇧🇭) now draw the heaviest fire, mirroring Iran's Jul 12 missile barrage on Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait. On Jul 14 the IRGC made good on that targeting, hitting UAE tankers al-Bahiya and Mombasa with missiles and citing their AIS blackout as justification — so in the game, going dark while the strait is closed now risks drawing a targeted missile launch, not just louder mines. New as of Jul 18: after the IRGC announced its first combined missile-and-drone operation to intercept four commercial vessels for defying its shipping rules, refusing or ignoring a patrol hail on a closed strait now draws a drone strike alongside the usual fast boats and missile. On Jul 18-19, Iran killed 2 US troops and left a third missing in a strike on Jordan, pushing the American combat toll to 16 and prompting an 8th night of US strikes — Iran answered by suspending all MOU commitments outright, so the ceasefire's toll-free promise no longer applies even in name. A US service member was then killed in Iraq on Jul 18-19 while disposing of an unexploded Iranian drone, pushing the American combat toll to 17 and drawing a 9th night of US strikes; the IRGC then claimed on Jul 20 that 2 of 4 tankers running the strait dark near Musandam "had accidents and stopped" after hitting mines, so dark running now takes noticeably harder mine damage and draws Iranian attention more often. On Jul 21, CENTCOM launched a 10th consecutive night of strikes after Iran hit Kuwaiti energy infrastructure for a third time; the IRGC also claimed two more tankers caught fire on an "unsafe route" through the strait, but CENTCOM called that claim false — so treat any IRGC "tanker destroyed" report as contested, not a confirmed kill. Overnight into Jul 22, CENTCOM completed an 11th consecutive night of strikes, and the IRGC hit the Kuwaiti-flagged tanker Kaifan off Oman's Limah — a confirmed strike this time, with the crew abandoning ship to a lifeboat, reinforcing why Kuwaiti 🇰🇼 and other Gulf flags keep drawing the heaviest fire. Iran's Houthi allies also declared a formal blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, so treat this as a war with no safe alternate route left standing. On Jul 22, Trump vowed to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant for every ship Iran hits in the strait, and Tehran threatened matching regional retaliation, as CENTCOM ran a 12th consecutive night of strikes. On Jul 23, three tankers were struck in a single day near Kumzar and Limah on the strait's southern corridor — the worst single-day tanker toll of the war — and the Houthis widened onto Saudi-flagged tankers in the Red Sea, so treat every corridor, not just the strait itself, as contested. Overnight into Jul 24, CENTCOM carried out a 13th consecutive night of strikes, and Iran was reported — then disputed by Iraqi and Iranian officials — to have rejected a US ceasefire proposal over who controls the strait itself, so there's no sign of the threat level easing. Later on Jul 24, drones hit the US-linked base at Irbil, Iraq and CENTCOM flatly rejected Iran's claim to control the strait, while an Omani delegation went to Tehran to discuss traffic — talk of de-escalation, but no change yet to the arsenal you'll actually face on a closed strait. New as of Jul 25-26: CENTCOM went two nights without announcing new strikes for the first time since the campaign began, with a Pentagon source calling it a pause rather than a stand-down and Vance/Gen. Caine flagging escalation and munitions-stockpile concerns — but since none of Iran's remaining batteries, mines or missile crews have been reported degraded further, and Tehran itself says nothing has actually changed about transit conditions, the game leaves the closed-strait arsenal exactly as tough as it was Jul 24. Treat the quiet as a possible signal, not a green light. New as of Jul 27: the pause held into a third day and Brent crashed 8.2% on hopes for a deal, but Iran says it isn't seeking renewed talks and traffic is still stuck at 1-2 tankers a day — plus Iran opened a fourth front, warning Ukraine over a deadly Caspian Sea strike — so nothing here has actually reduced the arsenal you'll face on a closed strait. New as of Jul 28: the pause extended a fourth day and Iran opened parallel Hormuz talks with Saudi Arabia alongside Oman, but with mines still uncleared and the toll dispute unresolved, the game holds the closed-strait arsenal exactly as tough as it was Jul 24.
Threats (open/contested mode): A handful of leftover mines from the incomplete demining effort, plus IRGC patrols now enforcing "Tehran-only" corridors — most hails are still toll-free via the US-Iran hotline, but some are enforcement warning shots that chip your hull, same as the Jun 25 strike on a container ship off Oman. Kamikaze drones strike more often now than they used to — Iran hit two ships within 48 hours (Jun 26's Ever Lovely, then Jun 27's tanker Kiku, struck even on the Navy's own newly-widened "safe" Omani corridor) — so hugging the designated lane keeps you off the mines, not the drones.
US Navy blockade (new Jul 14): Washington reinstated its naval blockade of Iranian ports for a fourth time this war, hours after the al-Bahiya/Mombasa strikes. It targets Iranian shipping specifically, so picking the 🇮🇷 Iran flag now draws hostile warship fire even in open/contested mode — everyone else instead gets a "military-assistance" escort that hunts down nearby IRGC fast boats, mirroring CENTCOM's report that 8M+ barrels moved under Navy escort on Jul 12. On Jul 15 the Navy made that blockade lethal, disabling the tanker Belma with Hellfire missiles near Kharg Island for defying it — so getting boarded under an Iran flag now carries a real chance of the same "smokestack disabled" fate instead of just a cargo seizure.
Coastal batteries knocked out (Greater Tunb Jul 15, Qeshm Island Jul 17): US strikes hit Iranian missile launch sites on Greater Tunb Island near the strait's Persian Gulf approach, then a second wave hit Qeshm Island's Masan village and Bandar Khamir near the strait's narrowest point — two of the game's five coastal missile batteries are now permanently knocked out, so you'll draw missile fire from just three sites for the rest of the run.
Evacuation convoys (open/contested mode): The IMO paused its full evacuation after the Jun 25 strike — only occasional escorted stragglers cross now. They're unarmed and won't hurt you, but ramming one scrapes your hull and kills your speed, so give way. Updated Jul 21: Lloyd's List recorded just 53 strait transits in the week through Jul 20 — down 66% and the worst weekly count since the war resumed — so stragglers now cross even more rarely; the convoy respawn window has widened to match.
Tolls: Toll-free under the ceasefire (open) · $2M if the strait closes again. Paying a wartime toll buys immunity — but flags you for US Navy interdiction. As of Jul 19, Iran has formally suspended every commitment under the MOU — the HUD's "Toll-Free MOU" readout now shows SUSPENDED instead of a countdown, since neither side is honoring the toll waiver regardless of its Aug 16 expiry date.
War-risk insurance: Every load now carries a premium on cargo value — 10% if the strait is closed, 3% under the contested ceasefire — deducted automatically when you take on oil, mirroring Jul 11-14 2026 reporting that hull war-risk premiums reached ~5% of vessel value at the high end, with Gulf-wide rates pushed toward 3% after the Jul 14 UAE tanker strikes. By Jul 17-20, with the Jordan/Iraq troop deaths and the MOU's collapse, quoted premiums widened to 3%-10% of hull value. Updated Jul 21-22: the confirmed Kaifan tanker strike and the Houthis' new Bab el-Mandeb blockade — wiping out Saudi Arabia's workaround export route — pushed the game's closed-strait rate to the top of that band. Updated Jul 22-23: Trump's bridge-for-a-ship threat, a 12th strike night, three tankers hit in a single day off Oman, and the Houthis widening onto Saudi tankers keep the closed-strait rate pinned at the 10% ceiling. Updated Jul 23-24: Brent breaking $100/bbl and Iran's reported (and disputed) rejection of an Iraq-mediated ceasefire over control of the strait give insurers no reason to move off that ceiling. Updated Jul 25-26: CENTCOM's two-night strike pause is a possible de-escalation signal, but with Tehran saying transit conditions haven't actually changed and no batteries or minefields confirmed reduced, insurers still have nothing to justify pricing off the 10% ceiling — the game holds the closed-strait rate exactly where it was. Updated Jul 27: Brent's 8.2% crash reflects traders pricing in a possible deal, not insurers pricing in less risk — traffic is still just 1-2 tankers a day, Iran says it isn't seeking renewed talks, and a fresh Iran-Ukraine flashpoint opened in the Caspian Sea, so the game keeps the closed-strait rate at the 10% ceiling until an actual reduction in strikes, mines, or batteries is confirmed. Updated Jul 28: Brent's slide to ~$86.58/bbl and the new Iran-Oman-Saudi Hormuz talks reflect trader optimism about an eventual deal, not an insurer reassessment of risk on the water — mines remain uncleared and Iran's toll demand is still unresolved, so the game holds the closed-strait rate at the 10% ceiling.
AIS Blackout ⌨ B: Press B to kill your transponder, mirroring the real Jul 9-10 collapse in traceable Hormuz traffic — at least two tankers are believed to have crossed dark. Running dark cuts how often patrols hail you for tolls or inspections, but forfeits your war-risk insurance payout, mines hit 50% harder with no one tracking you, and — new as of Jul 14 2026 — after the IRGC struck the dark-running UAE tankers al-Bahiya and Mombasa and blamed their blacked-out transponders, going dark on a closed strait now also risks drawing a targeted missile launch. Updated Jul 20 2026: the IRGC said 2 of 4 tankers that tried a dark "dangerous route" past Musandam hit mines and stopped dead — mirrored here by the mine-damage bump — and Bloomberg reported the tanker Kavomaleas anchored empty off Musandam after going dark, as strait traffic nearly halted entirely that Monday morning.
Repairs: $800k per hull % restored after each delivery.
The strait is 24 miles wide at its narrowest. A US-Iran deal signed in June 2026 ended the naval blockade and reopened the strait after nearly 4 months of war, but a UK/France-led coalition's demining mission could take 6 more months, and Iran has said it will start charging "maritime service fees" once the 60-day toll-free window closes. On Jun 20, Iran's military re-declared the strait closed over Israeli strikes in Lebanon it called a ceasefire breach — the US denies any closure and CENTCOM counts dozens of daily transits. A US-Iran-Qatar-Pakistan "de-confliction channel," agreed Jun 21 at talks in Bürgenstock, now coordinates safe passage, and on Jun 24 Washington and Tehran agreed a direct hotline to head off "misunderstandings" in the strait. The IMO began evacuating roughly 11,000 seafarers stranded near the strait on Jun 23, after 14 died during the war. Oman opened a third, IMO-coordinated transit corridor on Jun 24, but the IRGC denounced it as unauthorized on Jun 25, ordering several tankers back onto "Tehran-only" routes — the same day a container ship was hit by an unidentified projectile off the Omani coast, prompting the IMO to pause the evacuation and Secretary of State Rubio to warn that tolerating Iranian tolls risks "total chaos" on global shipping lanes. On Jun 26 Iran fired at least four one-way attack drones at ships in the strait — one struck the bridge of the cargo ship Ever Lovely — and President Trump called it a "foolish violation" of the ceasefire; the US responded with strikes on Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar, which CENTCOM called a "powerful response." Iranian drones reportedly struck Bahrain the next day, with the IRGC saying they targeted a "US terrorist army" presence in the Gulf. On Jun 27 a one-way attack drone hit the Panama-flagged tanker Kiku — carrying over 2 million barrels of QatarEnergy crude — on the very Omani corridor the Joint Maritime Information Center had just widened for two-way traffic to assert control of the waterway; the IRGC said the ship had crossed without its permission. The US answered with a second night of strikes on Iranian air-defense, communications, drone-storage and minelaying sites, and the IRGC retaliated with missiles and drones against the US Fifth Fleet's Bahrain headquarters and an air base in Kuwait, claiming eight facilities destroyed and warning of a "crushing response" to any further strikes. Iran called the second round of US strikes a ceasefire violation and threatened to halt diplomacy altogether, even as container freight rates hit a 22-month high on the renewed Hormuz risk. On Jun 29 both sides agreed to stand down after days of reciprocal attacks, with JMIC downgrading its threat level from SEVERE to SUBSTANTIAL — the first such downgrade of the war — ahead of technical talks set for Jun 30 in Doha; Brent settled at $72.51/bbl and war-risk insurers held transit premiums near 0.2%-0.4% of cargo value, up from a 0.125% pre-crisis baseline. On Jun 30 envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Doha, but the promised technical talks failed to clearly materialize — Tehran says no direct meeting with US officials is scheduled, with the envoys instead meeting Qatari mediators, while Iran reasserts it has authority to regulate strait traffic and threatens a "crushing response" to any further violation; Washington rejects that claim and insists navigation rights aren't Tehran's to grant. The standdown nonetheless held into a second day with no new strikes, and Brent drifted in the $72-74/bbl range. Iranian negotiators have also signaled Tehran intends to resume collecting "maritime service fees" once the 60-day toll waiver lapses, which Washington maintains would be an illegal toll. On Jul 1 VP Vance arrived in Doha and said Iran talks were "going well"; on Jul 2 Qatar confirmed indirect US-Iran meetings produced "positive progress" on MOU issues, though Tehran insists no direct talks with Washington are scheduled. Also on Jul 2, Iran's joint military command issued its starkest enforcement warning since the ceasefire: all tankers transiting the Strait of Vermouth must use Tehran-designated routes or face an "immediate and firm response," and Iran opened a formal "communication channel" with Washington to flag MOU breaches in real time. Brent fell to ~$71.50/bbl — the lowest since Feb 27 — as weekly transits climbed to ~258 ships (up from 138 the prior week), with Saudi crude exports back at 90% of pre-war baseline; Morgan Stanley warned the normalization pace risks tipping markets into a glut. As of Jul 3, more than 3,500 seafarers remain stranded in the Persian Gulf despite the three-week-old ceasefire — vessels still unable to exit due to IRGC permit disputes. NPR analysts describe Iran's Hormuz control as its "most powerful bargaining chip," predicting Tehran will leverage the 60-day toll-free MOU window (expiring ~Aug 16) to extract maximum concessions on its nuclear program, sanctions relief, and Lebanon before agreeing to any permanent arrangement. The IAEA confirmed its inspectors are limited to just two Iranian sites — Bushehr and the Tehran research reactor — with access to facilities struck during Operation Epic Fury still blocked, a key sticking point in nuclear talks. On July 4, state funeral ceremonies began in Tehran for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the Feb 28 joint US-Israeli airstrike; the week-long rites run through July 9, with envoys from over 100 nations attending. Iran's new supreme leadership has yet to appear publicly, adding uncertainty to the IRGC chain of command. On July 5, Iran's ambassador to China announced that "friendly nations" — China, Russia, and Pakistan — would receive "special considerations" on Hormuz transit fees once the 60-day toll-free window expires; the game reflects this: picking a Chinese, Russian, or Pakistani flag cuts your IRGC enforcement risk substantially. On July 7, the IRGC fired missiles at three vessels in 24 hours — the biggest attack day since the MOU was signed — striking the Qatari LNG tanker Al Rekayyat (~8nm east of Limah, Oman; engine room fire) and Saudi-flagged supertanker Wedyan on the US Navy's own "safe" southern corridor; European gas prices surged 6% and the US-led JMIC raised the threat level back to SEVERE (reversing the Jun 29 downgrade to SUBSTANTIAL). The US launched new retaliatory strikes on Iranian military sites; Tehran threatened to abandon the Doha peace talks entirely. Shipping traffic reached 108 crossings over the Jul 3–5 weekend (43/34/31) but remains far below the pre-war 120–140/day norm. LNG and Saudi VLCC tankers now transit in open mode — give them wide berth; LNG chain-blasts catastrophically if struck, Saudi crude tankers ignite a hull-damaging crude oil fire. Washington escalated again on Jul 8, striking more than 80 Iranian military sites overnight and revoking Tehran's oil-export sanctions waiver; Brent spiked 5.2% to $78.02/bbl (WTI $73.52) before easing to ~$76/bbl by Jul 10. Hormuz traffic then cratered: no large vessel crossed the US-coordinated Omani corridor with its AIS transponder on after Jul 7, the 7-day average fell to roughly a third of the pre-war rate (~32 ships/day, just 6 crossings overnight on Jul 9-10), and at least two tankers are believed to have transited dark — running with transponders off to avoid being targeted. On Jul 11, the IRGC struck the Cyprus-flagged container ship GFS Galaxy with a cruise missile roughly 9nm east of Oman's Musandam Peninsula, disabling its engine room and starting a fire that forced the crew into lifeboats; UKMTO confirmed one crew member remains missing. Iran's military declared the strait "closed until further notice, and until regional interference by the US ceases" — dropping the ambiguity of earlier disputed closures — and CENTCOM launched a third round of strikes overnight, hitting roughly 140 targets in Sirik, Bandar Abbas and Minab. Iran responded on Jul 12 with a coordinated missile-and-drone barrage against Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait, and claimed further strikes on Jordan and Oman; every GCC member but Saudi Arabia scrambled air defenses, intercepting inbound fire, while shrapnel from Qatar's intercepts injured three people including a child in Doha. An adviser to Iran's supreme leader called the strait "more important than dozens of atomic bombs." President Trump said he now considers the ceasefire over. War-risk insurers responded within a day: hull war-risk premiums for Hormuz transits reportedly reached ~5% of vessel value, described as the new market norm, up from the 1%-3% range quoted just a week earlier after the Jul 7 triple-ship attack — at the height of the conflict some insurers had charged as much as 10%. Overnight into Jul 13, CENTCOM launched a fourth round of strikes — hitting dozens of targets across Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas and Sirik, including air-defense systems, coastal radar, missile/drone capability and small boats — and Iran fired on a commercial vessel within the hour, then retaliated again with missiles and drones against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. The two sides now openly dispute the strait's status itself: Washington and CENTCOM insist transits continue and the waterway is open, while Iran's strait authority says passage is "not possible." A handful of vessels are reported crossing anyway with their AIS transponders dark, even as observable, traceable crossings on the Omani corridor have all but ceased. On Jul 14 the IRGC fired missiles at two UAE-flagged supertankers, al-Bahiya and Mombasa, while they sat in Omani territorial waters — killing one Indian seafarer, injuring six Indian and two Ukrainian crew, and setting both ships ablaze before the fires were brought under control. Iranian state media said the Guards struck the pair for ignoring warnings, running with navigation systems switched off, and attempting to cross what it called "a mined route" — the clearest public link yet between AIS blackout and mine risk, and the most significant attack on commercial shipping since the interim deal frayed. The US answered with a fifth round of strikes on Iranian military targets even as Tehran hit Gulf states again, and Brent crude spiked 9.6% in a single day — its biggest one-day jump since May 2020 — to a post-ceasefire high of $84.66/bbl. On Jul 14, hours after the al-Bahiya/Mombasa strikes, Washington reinstated its naval blockade of Iranian ports — the fourth time this war — deploying 19+ warships including two carrier strike groups to the northern Arabian Sea and escorting 3-4 commercial vessels a day; CENTCOM said more than 8 million barrels transited the strait Jul 12 under Navy escort. The same day, Trump abandoned his proposed 20% Hormuz "Reimbursement Fee" — opposed by shippers and called illegal by the IMO — in favor of trade and investment deals with Gulf states, saying the strait is "open to all commercial shipping except for Iran." On Jul 15 the IRGC struck US-linked bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and, for the first time in the war, Jordan: Kuwait intercepted 6 missiles and 33 drones, Jordan downed 3 missiles, and Iran said US strikes have now killed more than 30 civilians. Tehran's Revolutionary Guard warned that if its blockade continues, it will close other regional oil and gas export routes too — "available to everyone or to no one" — a statement analysts read as a threat to shut the Bab el-Mandeb strait via Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen, opening a second front against another critical waterway. President Trump warned the conflict would "get really bad next week," threatening strikes on Iranian bridges and power plants absent a deal. On Jul 15 the US hit Iranian missile launch and coastal-defense sites on Greater Tunb Island, near the strait's Persian Gulf approach, further degrading Iran's ability to strike shipping — and that night, in the blockade's first confirmed kill, a US aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into the smokestack of the unladen Curaçao-flagged tanker M/T Belma, disabling it roughly 90 nautical miles from Iran's Kharg Island export terminal after it ignored repeated warnings; two more vessels were turned back under the blockade. Observable Hormuz traffic kept collapsing — PortWatch logged just 10 transits on Jul 12 against an 88/day pre-crisis baseline, an 11% share, as the crisis entered its 137th day — and on Jul 16 India's Directorate General of Shipping ordered shipowners and recruitment agencies to stop deploying Indian seafarers on Hormuz voyages "until further orders," after two Indian crew members died in attacks within three days; India supplies more than 300,000 of the world's seafarers, and the move echoes an earlier Philippine curb that Manila later eased. The IMO warned the strait had become too dangerous for commercial vessels. Brent eased slightly to $84.63/bbl on Jul 16, down 0.37% but still near its highest close in a month, as Asian spot LNG prices climbed to their highest level since March on fears of a prolonged disruption. On Jul 17, a sixth consecutive night of US strikes expanded beyond military and naval targets to Iranian infrastructure for the first time — six road bridges, the nuclear-plant town of Bushehr, and Lorestan province — while a separate wave hit Qeshm Island's Masan village and the port of Bandar Khamir, near the strait's narrowest point, knocking out a second coastal missile battery; Qatar came under Iranian fire for a second time, and Brent climbed to $85.95/bbl. On Jul 18, CENTCOM answered with the war's largest single strike package yet — roughly 140 targets overnight — and Iran retaliated against Jordan's Prince Hassan Air Base, a second power and water plant in Kuwait, and, for the first time, merchant shipping itself: the IRGC said a combined missile-and-drone operation intercepted four commercial vessels in the strait for defying its shipping rules, declining to identify them and warning owners against relying on "baseless" US military protection. Brent held above $85/bbl, up more than 14% on the week, as the crisis entered its 139th day with no visible diplomatic track. On Jul 18, Iranian ballistic missiles and drones struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, killing two US service members and leaving a third missing — the first confirmed American combat deaths since the war resumed, bringing the total US combat toll to 16; four other troops were medevac'd and later discharged. President Trump, calling the deaths "a very sad thing," ordered an eighth consecutive night of retaliatory strikes and was reportedly presented options to expand the campaign further, including possible strikes on civilian energy infrastructure. Iran responded by formally suspending all of its commitments under the Jun 17 MOU — Iranian official Ali Gharibabadi said Washington had violated its own commitments first, and the Supreme Leader dismissed Trump's signature on the deal as "worthless and unreliable," effectively voiding the 60-day toll-free window well ahead of its Aug 16 expiry. Brent crude jumped 4.5% to a session high of $88.02/bbl on the news, and observable strait traffic fell to its lowest level in three weeks, with 7 of the last 8 tracked vessels transiting via Iran's own designated route rather than the US-backed Omani corridor — a reversal of the pattern seen earlier in the war, when most ships hugged the Omani side despite Iranian warnings. The crisis entered its 140th day with the ceasefire framework in name only. On Jul 18-19, a US service member was killed in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian one-way attack drone, bringing the American combat toll to 17; President Trump ordered a 9th consecutive night of strikes, and Jordan's air defenses intercepted several more incoming Iranian missiles. Brent broke $90/bbl for the first time this war, closing at $90.32 on Jul 20 as Goldman Sachs said its $100 Brent scenario was "back in play." On Jul 20, the IRGC said four tankers attempted a dark "dangerous route" transit near the Musandam Peninsula in defiance of its shipping rules — two "had accidents and stopped," which Bloomberg linked to the products tanker Kavomaleas, tracked anchored and empty off Musandam after running with its transponder off — and observable strait traffic nearly halted entirely that Monday morning, the crisis's 141st day. Overnight into Jul 21, CENTCOM launched a 10th consecutive night of strikes after Iran hit Kuwaiti energy infrastructure for a third time this war — Kuwait Petroleum Corp said the strike caused injuries and "significant material losses" at one of its facilities, while Kuwait's defense ministry cited "severe damage" to oil and electricity sites. The IRGC separately claimed two more oil tankers, calling them "deviant" and "US-coerced," caught massive fires after taking an "unsafe" route through the strait; CENTCOM dismissed the claim as false, the latest instance of the two sides disputing basic facts about the waterway. Lloyd's List Intelligence recorded just 53 vessel transits in the week through Jul 20, down 66% from 157 the week before, with tanker and gas-carrier movements falling to 30 crossings from 90 — a level analysts described as a "worst-case scenario" for the strait. Brent eased 0.4% off its record close, slipping to $88.87/bbl, as Reuters reported mediators were floating a possible 10-day ceasefire proposal even as the traffic collapse kept a floor under prices, with the crisis entering its 142nd day. Overnight into Jul 22, CENTCOM completed an 11th consecutive night of strikes and the IRGC struck the Kuwaiti tanker Kaifan off Oman's Limah, its crew abandoning ship after an engine-room fire. The Houthis declared a formal blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb strait — Saudi Arabia's main workaround export route — in retaliation for Saudi strikes on Sanaa's airport, opening a second maritime chokepoint just as Brent set a fresh war-high above $91/bbl. At the ASEAN summit in Manila, Secretary of State Rubio said Iran's demand to control Hormuz traffic would set a "dangerous precedent" for other international waterways, framing the strait fight as a test case with global stakes as the crisis entered its 143rd day. Later on Jul 22, President Trump escalated again, vowing the US would "destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT" — including targets near Tehran — every time Iran fires on a ship transiting the strait; an Iranian military source told the Tasnim news agency that Tehran would retaliate against regional infrastructure and energy facilities tied to US interests if it did. CENTCOM carried out a 12th consecutive night of strikes, and the IRGC separately claimed an oil tanker caught fire after an explosion in the strait, a claim CENTCOM did not confirm. Brent broke $94/bbl that day as talks with Iran appeared to collapse. On Jul 23, the escalation reached a new single-day peak: three tankers were struck within 24 hours in the strait's southern corridor near Kumzar and Limah, Oman, including a state-owned vessel, and observed traffic swung almost entirely onto the northern, Iran-designated route — just 2 of the next 12 verified crossings used the southern lane. One of the struck tankers was later re-identified roughly 30km from where it was hit, moving under apparent armed escort toward Iranian waters, an assessment read as Iran actively enforcing which corridor tankers may use. The Houthis, separately, claimed missile-and-drone strikes on the Saudi-flagged tankers Encelia and Layla in the Red Sea — Saudi Arabia confirmed a fire at Encelia's bow — opening a third maritime front alongside Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb. Brent surged past $98/bbl on the combined news, up 4.6% to $98.44 (WTI +3.8% to $90.14), its highest since late May, while Secretary of State Rubio told reporters in Manila that Iran "wants to talk" but isn't serious about a deal, since "these people make deals and then they break it almost immediately." Brent then broke $100/bbl for the first time since May, closing Jul 23 at $100.65 (+7.0%) and holding near $100.40 into Jul 24 — up more than 13% on the week — as the Houthi Red Sea strikes compounded the Hormuz collapse; the game's default cargo price now reflects that close. Overnight into Jul 24, CENTCOM completed a 13th consecutive night of strikes, targeting command centers, drone storage, coastal surveillance and maritime capability, and said its blockade has now redirected 12 commercial vessels and disabled one since restarting Jul 15. Separately, Iran was reported to have rejected a US ceasefire proposal carried by Iraqi PM Ali al-Zaidi over control of the strait itself — though Baghdad's and Tehran's own offices disputed the report as "misleading." The crisis entered its 145th day with strikes, corridor enforcement and now a third front all still expanding. Later on Jul 24, explosive-laden drones swarmed Irbil, the northern Iraqi city hosting US forces — air defenses shot down five over the city as sirens also sounded in Bahrain, with no casualties reported — while an Omani delegation flew to Tehran to discuss managing strait traffic, and CENTCOM publicly rejected Iran's claim to control the waterway as "false." Brent eased 2.3% to $98.38/bbl on Jul 24, snapping its climb toward the $100.65 record set the day before but still up roughly 10% on the week. CENTCOM then went quiet for the Jul 25-26 weekend — no new strikes announced for the first time since the campaign began 13 nights earlier — with a Pentagon source telling reporters operations were "on a hold" as VP Vance and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine raised concerns about further escalation and dwindling munitions stockpiles in a White House meeting. Iran's IRGC separately claimed (disputed by US officials, who say all American aircraft are accounted for) to have destroyed 11 US aircraft and 17 drones on the ground since Jul 8, while Oman and Iran called their own Hormuz-management talks "useful" and reported progress on shared principles for safe passage — though Iran's foreign ministry says no change has occurred yet in actual transit conditions, leaving the closed-strait arsenal you'll face in the game unchanged for now. The pause held into a third day on Jul 27, and Brent cratered 8.2% to $90.28/bbl — its steepest single-day drop of the war — as CBS reported talks "moving in a positive direction" and CNBC described both sides pausing fighting to give negotiations "space." But Iran said Monday it is not seeking renewed talks with Washington and still insists it alone controls the strait, and TankerMap showed traffic still stuck at just 1-2 tanker crossings a day against the 88/day norm — so the price drop reflects trader optimism, not any confirmed reduction in risk on the water. Iran also opened a fourth front on Jul 27: Foreign Minister Araghchi warned Ukraine that a Saturday Caspian Sea strike, which killed one Iranian sailor, "cannot go unanswered," accusing Kyiv of acting at Israel's behest to drag the war northward. On Jul 28, the strike pause extended into a fourth day and Iran opened a parallel diplomatic track, hosting Hormuz-management calls with Saudi Arabia alongside its ongoing talks with Oman — reportedly seeking Riyadh and Muscat's buy-in for a shared framework to restart full shipping traffic through the strait. But officials on both sides caution the central shipping lane can only reopen once Iran's naval mines are cleared, and Tehran is still seeking Omani approval for a toll-based management scheme Oman continues to resist, so nothing about actual transit conditions has changed yet. Brent extended its slide to ~$86.58/bbl, a fourth consecutive losing session, as the pause and the talks fed hopes of an eventual deal. Axios → CNBC → CNN → Manila Times → Al Jazeera → Bloomberg → Political Wire →