U.S. has been quietly moving oil through Strait of Hormuz for weeks, reports say

Satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz.

With the Iran war underway for six months, the U.S. naval blockade in place and talks between American and Iranian negotiators stalled, the U.S. for the last several weeks has been quietly moving oil through the Strait of Hormuz and boosting global oil supplies, according to multiple reports.

Both The New York Times and Axios reported that the U.S. has been conducting a stealth oil transport operation through the strait for weeks now. As much as 10 million barrels of oil have moved through the strait each day in recent weeks, below the 15 million barrels that were shipped through the crucial waterway prior to the war. The stealth operation has helped keep global oil prices lower than they otherwise might be. Crude oil prices traded at about $85 a barrel on Wednesday after surging well above $100 in April and again in June.

The U.S. is making use of a southern channel along the coast of Oman with the military guarding empty tankers as they enter the Persian Gulf from the Arabian Sea, and then guiding them back out after they fill up with oil from various Gulf nations. The U.S. Air Force also provides cover from Iranian cruise missiles and drones, according to Axios, which quoted one U.S. official as saying that Iranian forces "can be a nuisance, but they don't control the strait."

Iran has hit oil tankers on occasion, but the mission has reportedly been a success. On some nights, tankers have been able to move as much as 15 to 20 million barrels through the Strait of Hormuz. 

“It’s one of the surprising successes,” Michelle Wiese Bockmann of the maritime shipping analysis firm Windward told The New York Times. “They have been extraordinarily effective in keeping that southern corridor operating, despite the attacks.” On Tuesday, President Trump posted a graphic on Truth Social of a map of the Strait of Hormuz under a headline reading, "New U.S. Territory."