LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) - A Chinese-operated container ship was among the few to cross the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, data showed on Thursday, as uncertainty grows around reopening the critical waterway with talks over a deal between the U.S. and Iran deadlocked.Before the war on Iran began on February 28, shipping traffic through the strait averaged 125 to 140 daily passages. Due to the conflict, 20,000 seafarers remain stranded inside the Gulf on board hundreds of ships.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy on Wednesday said they allowed over 25 vessels including oil tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours.

These are oil tankers, container ships and other merchant vessels