The U.S. government has claimed that up to 9 million barrels a day are flowing through the strait “over short time periods,” but commodities analysts at ING bank cautioned that the figure “seems aggressive.”

Other ship-tracking estimates suggest it’s closer to 2 to 6 million barrels per day, ING said. Before the war, some 15 million barrels per day passed the strait.

Iran’s foreign ministry criticizes US sanctions

Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, wrote late Wednesday in a social media post that the U.S. had made a coalition with Bahrain, calling it a country with “virtually no meaningful economic exchange with Iran.”

In another social media post on Wednesday, Iran’s top negotiator and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf thanked China for rejecting the U.S. “economic D-Day” policies against Iran.

Earlier this week, Tehran had warned that it would respond harshly to expanded U.S. sanctions, including measures against countries it sees as cooperating with Washington.

Israeli strikes kill 4 in Gaza

In Gaza, Israeli strikes left four people killed and several others wounded, local health officials said.

Three of the victims were killed in separate strikes in Gaza City, officials at Shifa hospital said. The fourth person was killed and others were injured in a strike on a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, officials at Nasser hospital said.

Israel’s military said the four strikes targeted Hamas militants.

Nickolay Mladenov, head of Trump’s Board of Peace, admonished Israel during a United Nations gathering over Israel’s continued attacks on Wednesday.

Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Noa Furman, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that Israel is committed to Trump’s peace plan, but that Hamas’ “disarmament must come first.”

Dutch diplomats removed from Gaza ceasefire efforts

Israel’s foreign ministry is removing two Dutch diplomats from the Gaza ceasefire coordination center, the Dutch foreign ministry said in a statement.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that the decision was in response to “a series of anti-Israel measures taken by the Dutch government,” including next month’s implementation of a ban on the trade of Israeli products from the occupied West Bank and other areas.

Tom Berendsen, the foreign minister of the Netherlands, told The Associated Press in an email that he felt the removal of the diplomats was “unnecessary” but that his country stood by its decision “to ban products from illegal settlements.”

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon kill 1 woman

Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday killed one woman and wounded six people, including a child, inside a home, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said.

The strikes came after Israel blamed the militant Hezbollah group for firing two explosive drones.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired two explosive drones at Israeli troops near the southern city of Nabatiyeh earlier Thursday, though the drones did not inflict any casualties among troops before one was shot down.

Pakistan and Kuwait reach military deal

Pakistan’s military announced Thursday that it has agreed to assist Kuwait’s military with training, capacity building and border management.

The Pakistani armed forces said the deal was signed by Kuwait’s defense minister during a visit to the garrison city of Rawalpindi focused on bilateral defense relations and security cooperation.

Gulf states, long reliant on American protection, have been considering alternative security arrangements in the wake of the war between Iran and the U.S. In early August, Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey.

Pakistan said Thursday that it was also continuing diplomatic efforts with Iran, citing a recent visit to Tehran focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

The Associated Press