A sliver of good news out of the Iran conflict: The United States has had increasing success getting oil tankers out of the Strait of Hormuz.
The New York Times reported this week that, since May, the U.S. military “has played a crucial role in getting millions of barrels of oil through the strait, helping to keep oil prices from rising further.” The effort involves protecting ships as they transport “through the southern part of the strait on routes close to Oman.”
Before the war, about 20 million barrels of crude oil went through the strait each day. At the start of the conflict, that number dropped to almost nothing. It is now back up to between 5 million and 10 million barrels, according to various reports.
“It’s one of the surprising successes,” Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a shipping analyst at Windward, a maritime analysis firm, told the Times. “They have been extraordinarily effective in keeping that southern corridor operating despite the attacks.”
The report contradicts Iranian claims that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and that Tehran is in full control of the vital passage. This is a victory for the Trump administration and good news for American motorists.
“The U.S.-led operation,” Axios reported, “is mitigating one of the most painful aspects of the war: the disruption to oil supplies that sent crude prices soaring. While the amount of oil coming out of the strait is still below pre-war levels, it is making a discernible difference in global supplies, officials say.”
The Times reports that the United States is using a variety of methods to fend off Iranian efforts to bottle up the strait, including employing “ships, helicopters and planes to launch weapons to intercept attacks. It has helped over 1,000 ships transit the strait, according to Central Command.”
Meanwhile, Axios reports that the effort goes beyond simply ensuring safe passage out of the strait: “The U.S. military is helping empty tankers enter the Gulf from the Arabian Sea through the strait, pick up oil from countries in the region, and then exit.” This success also reveals how effectively the United States has been at degrading the Iranian military infrastructure.
How long the United States can keep this operation in place is the billion-dollar question. The Iranian strategy is to play a waiting game in an effort to frustrate President Donald Trump. For now, however, the United States appears to have made significant progress toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
