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Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has hit “crisis-era lows”, a UK-based maritime data firm has reported as a brief pause in fighting was shattered by fresh clashes in the Middle East.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence said amid the worsening security situation “a near-term recovery in traffic” through the strategic waterway was unlikely.

The disruption to trade through the Gulf channel, which is a vital oil and gas supply route, has driven up fuel and food prices.

In an update, Lloyd’s said initial figures showed there were just 39 vessel transits from July 20-26, down from 82 the previous week.

This represents only a fraction of the traffic before the war, when on average nearly 140 ships a day made the crossing.

The monitor said: “The deteriorating security environment in the Strait of Hormuz has driven vessel traffic back to crisis-era lows.”

It added: “A near-term recovery in traffic is unlikely. Neither Tehran nor Washington has shifted position materially, leaving owners reluctant to resume normal trading patterns.”

Meanwhile, the renewed hostilities have threatened to expand the conflict.

A US-owned gas storage tanker in the Egyptian port of Damietta in the eastern Mediterranean was struck by a drone, according to the British maritime security firm Ambrey.

It came after Iran launched missiles at US forces in the Middle East as the American military joined with Saudi Arabia in attacking Tehran-backed militias in neighbouring Iraq.

The latest violence was triggered by what the Pentagon described as “an attempted surprise attack” by Tehran on US personnel based in the region, which it said was successfully intercepted.

Having previously halted an intensive 13-day military offensive against Iran, Donald Trump was quoted by Fox News as saying: “We’ll be hitting them hard. We’re going to beat the f****** shit out of them.”

Before the new flare-up, mediators had expressed hope about bringing the US and Iran back to the negotiating table.

An interim ceasefire deal collapsed in recent weeks after renewed fighting in the contested Strait of Hormuz, which has been a flashpoint in the war.

Iran has continued to try to maintain its stranglehold on the channel, which had been open before the US and Israel began the conflict, including demanding ships seek permission to transit, attacking vessels and threatening to impose charges.

In response, the US has moved to crack down on bodies backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “for running coercive ‘insurance’ schemes that extort international shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.

State department spokesman Tommy Piggott said: “These entities manufacture risk – including the threat of vessel seizures – and then charge commercial vessels for coverage against dangers created by the regime itself, generating revenue that sustains IRGC operations and Iran’s broader campaign of regional destabilisation.”