NextFin News - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the U.S. military had secretly helped 200 commercial ships and more than 100 million barrels of oil move through the Strait of Hormuz.
The waterway carries roughly one-fifth of global petroleum supply and remains the most sensitive choke point in the oil market. In remarks in the Oval Office and in a Truth Social post, Trump said the clandestine effort was one reason crude had not surged above $200 a barrel, even as traffic through the strait stayed well below prewar levels.
CNBC reported that Trump disclosed the operation publicly and cast it as proof that “the UNITED STATES of AMERICA CONTROLS the Strait of Hormuz — NOT Iran.” The same report said U.S. officials have not described the Navy as escorting vessels in the traditional sense. Instead, a defense official told CNBC that the military has been communicating and coordinating with ships that want to transit safely and freely. That points to a quieter security role, not an openly declared reopening of the route.
For investors, that distinction matters. Tanker traffic can keep moving through Hormuz while the strait remains constrained, heavily watched and below normal capacity. Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC that ship traffic remains far below prewar levels and that the world is still losing significant volumes of oil every day. Her assessment does not settle the market debate, but it does show that hidden barrels are not the same as a return to normal operations.
Trump’s numbers are large, though hard to judge without more official disclosure. More than 100 million barrels is equal to about five days of prewar Hormuz throughput at the roughly 20 million barrels a day that passed through the strait before the conflict escalated. Current flow is clearly much smaller. CNBC said traffic plunged after Iran retaliated by attacking ships and mining the sea lane following U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28. It also cited a cumulative loss of more than 1 billion barrels of oil, which the report described as the largest supply disruption in history. Even with some barrels still moving, the market remains short of the volumes that usually pass through the channel.
Trump’s comments also match his broader messaging on oil prices. He said the covert operation helped keep crude around $90 a barrel instead of sending it above $200, a claim that cannot be independently verified from the CNBC report alone. What is clear is that the administration has tried several approaches to keep shipments moving. In May, Trump announced and then abruptly halted a mission called Project Freedom that was intended to escort tankers stranded in the Persian Gulf. U.S. officials later hinted that the Navy was quietly helping ships through Hormuz, but they did not disclose the scale of the effort until Trump’s latest remarks.
That matters for energy traders because an undeclared U.S. role offers less reassurance than a formal convoy system and more protection than no intervention. The result is a market that can price in some reduced danger without dropping the risk premium entirely. Freight rates, tanker routing decisions and insurance costs can still swing if Iranian harassment resumes or if the U.S. changes course again.
JPMorgan said last week that more oil might be moving through Hormuz than public data showed. According to CNBC, the bank estimated that around 2 million barrels per day could be leaving on tankers that had switched off their transponders. That is a meaningful figure, but it remains an estimate rather than a customs tally or a verified throughput count. It suggests invisible flows may exceed the official record, while also showing how far the strait remains from its normal 20 million-barrel-per-day level.
What emerges is a market adapting to disruption, not escaping it. Some volumes may be moving through Hormuz under the radar, some with quiet U.S. coordination, and some may be stuck or delayed. That helps explain why crude prices have not exploded. It does not change the vulnerability of a passage where a single state can threaten shipping and where transponder-off tankers still expose shippers to legal, operational and military risk.
Trump framed the operation as evidence of American control over the strait, but CNBC’s reporting described something more limited. The U.S. is responding to Iranian attacks, coordinating with ships and, at times, quietly assisting transit. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the House Foreign Relations Committee last week that the U.S. was responding to Iranian attacks on commercial ships and warned that Iranian drones could strike any part of a vessel, risking an ecological disaster. That description fits a route operating under threat, not a fully reopened lane.
For energy investors, the issue is no longer simply whether Hormuz is open or closed. The questions are how much oil can move, at what cost, and with what level of covert or overt protection. That is most important for near-dated crude, more than for long-term reserves or production capacity. It also helps explain why crude can stay supported even when some flows appear resilient.
The CNBC report shows that the U.S. has found a way to keep some barrels moving without publicly labeling the effort a convoy. It does not show a restored normal. The Strait of Hormuz remains well short of the frictionless artery it was before Feb. 28, and the barrels still have to pass through it, often with their transponders off.
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