At the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most consequential passages, nine cargo vessels moved through on Wednesday — the same number as the day before, a stillness that speaks louder than any declaration. The United States and Iran offer contradictory accounts of whether the strait is open or closed, and in the space between those competing truths, global commerce has chosen the only rational response: to wait. This is what diplomatic deadlock looks like when measured not in words but in ships — or rather, in the absence of them.