Hormuz shipping traffic remains below 10-day average at weekend, data shows

Commodity vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz fell to a single digit per day at the weekend, preliminary ship-tracking data shows, well below a 10-day average of 14.

Over the weekend, a total of four vessels exited the Gulf via the strait and 10 entered it, according to the data.

The figures exclude any vessels that might have crossed the strait with their Automatic Identification System transponders turned off to avoid detection.

Trump downplays report China gave Iran intel before deadly strike on US base in Jordan

US President Donald Trump downplays reports that Chinese entities supplied Tehran with satellite images of a military base in Jordan before and after an Iranian strike killed three US soldiers.

“You know, when they say that China spies on us, I say you’re right, and we spy on them too,” Trump tells reporters aboard Air Force One a day after The Wall Street Journal reported Beijing’s intelligence sharing.

“That’s what we do. They basically do what we do,” Trump says.

The incident could deepen tensions between Washington and Beijing ahead of a planned state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on September 24.

On July 17, Iran launched missile strikes on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, which houses US forces. Three US Army soldiers were killed.

Unnamed American officials cited in the Journal’s reporting did not name the Chinese entities involved, and did not suggest that Beijing was directly to blame.

Chinese officials asked for proof of the transfer of satellite imagery when prodded by the US officials, and refused to acknowledge that Chinese companies were involved in........

© The Times of Israel