Singapore, Sept. 10 (SANA)Maritime traffic throughthe Strait of Hormuzin the Gulf fell to seven vessels on Wednesday, compared with 12 vessels the previous day and below the 10-day average of 14, according to preliminary vessel-tracking data.Reuters reported that data released Thursday showed four vessels departed the strait and three entered it.One of the departing vessels was a very large crude carrier loaded with around 2 million barrels of crude oil. No liquefied natural gas tanker departed the strait, according to the data.Some vessels are reportedly transiting the waterway without their automatic identification systems switched on, preventing them from being included in the statistics.Inthe Bab el-Mandeb Strait, around 28 cargo vessels transited the waterway on Wednesday, close to the previous 10-day average of 27 vessels. Sixteen vessels entered the strait and 12 departed.The maritime confrontation betweenthe United States and Iranhas escalated in recent days, with attacks exchanged targeting tankers and vessels in the Gulf and around the Strait of Hormuz.The U.S. military announced that it had destroyed 10Iranian oil tankersover the course of a week, while Iran said it had targeted U.S. vessels and tankers in the region.