With fuel and freight prices skyrocketing as war chokes the Strait of Hormuz, the Panama Canal is seeing more business than usual.

The Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway used to carry shipments of oil to countries around the world, is a point of contention amid the U.S.-Iran War.

Trump said the U.S. could send a naval escort to open up the oil shipping channel but now officials say they're not ready.

The U.S. said it had destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying ships amid fears Tehran could deploy hundreds of mines to effectively booby-trap the critical shipping lane.

The strike appears to have come without warning, and shows that Iran and its proxies can target ships even without mining the Strait of Hormuz.

The vessels targeted in Wednesday's late-night attacks in the Gulf near Iraq were the Marshall ​Islands-flagged Safesea Vishnu and the Malta-flagged Zefyros, which had loaded fuel cargoes in Iraq, two Iraqi port officials said.

Some commercial ships near or in the Strait of Hormuz and in the Persian Gulf have declared themselves as China-linked since the Iran war began, marine traffic data show, as their operators try to reduce risks of being targeted in attacks.

Iran is using smaller crafts to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz, two U.S. officials said.

The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to shipping because of the war against Iran by the U.S. and Israel.