Trump says secret US military operation escorted 100 million barrels through Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the US military has been conducting a covert operation since last month to escort civilian vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, allowing a large volume of crude oil to reach global markets as a result.

Trump posted on his Truth Social account that he had ordered "our great military to conduct a secret operation supporting oil tankers and other commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz" last month. "On Thursday, I am pleased to announce that as a result of this effort, over 100 million barrels of oil have transited the strait and been supplied to the open market," he wrote, adding that more than 200 commercial vessels had safely passed through.

Trump said the operation's success was due to the United States — not Iran — controlling the Strait of Hormuz. "Their military has been defeated and their economy has collapsed. Iran is finished," he said.

Speaking at a White House event Thursday, Trump also said, "We have been pulling out millions of barrels of oil every night. Thursday is the first time I'm announcing this." He said the military's escort of vessels through the strait — keeping oil flowing to global markets — was the reason oil prices stood at $85 to $90 a barrel rather than $250. "When the war ends, prices will drop dramatically," he said.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright also said at a public event Wednesday that the number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz was increasing "very significantly."

Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported that so-called dark transits — ships sailing with their transponders switched off to conceal their location — had pushed oil supplies through the strait to levels exceeding those seen immediately after the blockade began.

Bloomberg reported that over the past weekend, 16 oil tankers off the coast of Oman transferred millions of barrels of crude that had been stranded in the Persian Gulf, then switched off their transponders and passed through the strait. TankerTrackers.com, which monitors vessel movements using satellite imagery, confirmed that 12 ships exited the strait on June 6 alone.

Rapidan Energy Group estimated that roughly 2 million barrels of crude and related products are now leaving the Gulf per day. Trump's remarks were widely interpreted as indicating that the US military is protecting oil tankers conducting dark transits. Bloomberg said the combination of dark transits, a sharp drop in Chinese crude purchases, a surge in US oil exports, and the development of alternative routes bypassing the strait — including Saudi Arabia's port of Yanbu — had pulled oil prices down nearly 30 percent from their peak during the height of the conflict.