DUBAI -- Vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell into single digits on Thursday, sharply contradicting Washington’s claims of substantially higher shipping activity through the strategic waterway and underscoring the growing uncertainty surrounding global energy supplies as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran continues.

Preliminary ship-tracking data showed just nine vessels crossing the strait on Thursday, down from 14 the previous day and well below the 10-day average of about 18, Reuters reported Friday.

Eight vessels exited the waterway and only one entered. Reuters said the data showed a very large gas carrier and a very large crude carrier among the vessels leaving the strait, most probably with Iran’s permission.

The figures stand in stark contrast to a U.S. official’s account of activity on Wednesday. The official told Reuters that roughly 60 commercial vessels had crossed Hormuz that day, including around 40 that coordinated with the U.S. military for protection, and claimed that about 22 million barrels of oil had exited the waterway.

But Reuters explicitly said it could not independently verify the U.S. official’s figures.

The latest shipping data suggest that, whatever the competing claims about individual cargoes, normal commercial traffic has not returned to the strait, unlike unsubstantiated claims by American officials.

The consequences are increasingly visible in energy markets on both sides of the Atlantic.

European gas prices have risen sharply as the war disrupts LNG shipments from the Persian Gulf.

Reuters reported Thursday that benchmark European gas prices had climbed above €80 per megawatt-hour, their highest level in three years, with analysts expecting gas-fired power generation to fall by roughly a quarter over the next six months as utilities turn back toward coal.

The pressure is particularly acute because Europe entered the crisis with relatively low gas inventories. Industry officials say global gas markets are now pricing in tight supplies well beyond the coming winter, with Europe competing aggressively with Asian buyers for LNG cargoes.

The shock is also reaching motorists and businesses.

In the United States, the national average diesel price crossed $6 a gallon for the first time earlier this month, according to GasBuddy data cited by Reuters. Diesel is essential to trucking, agriculture, shipping, construction and manufacturing, meaning prolonged high prices can feed directly into transportation and food costs.

The squeeze has become serious enough for Washington to consider restricting diesel exports in an effort to increase domestic supply.

Reuters reported Friday that discussion of an export ban has already distorted U.S. crude markets, while analysts warned earlier that such a policy could actually worsen fuel shortages and disruptions elsewhere.

Europe is facing its own emergency measures. Germany’s lower house approved a €2.5 billion gasoline tax discount on Friday as Berlin sought to shield consumers and businesses from high fuel prices.

In Italy, Eni announced that it would cap pump prices for at least a month, cutting diesel to no more than €2.19 a litre and gasoline to €1.99.

The pain is not limited to the fuel pump. Higher transport and energy costs feed into virtually every part of the economy, from freight and food distribution to manufacturing and household heating.

European utilities are already shifting away from gas toward coal as they attempt to contain power-generation costs.

Diesel markets are particularly strained. Reuters reported this week that a global diesel shortage could persist into 2027, with inventories in the United States, Europe and Asia under significant pressure. U.S. diesel reserves have fallen to their lowest September level since 1982, according to the report.

The disruption is also spreading into aviation. European jet-fuel supplies are projected to face a substantial fourth-quarter deficit, while inventories at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp trading hub have fallen to their lowest level in seven years.

For Western households, the war is therefore no longer an abstraction playing out on distant battlefields. Its effects are appearing in fuel bills, transport costs, electricity prices and the price of goods carried by diesel-powered trucks and ships.