Trump: US Military Facilitating Record Oil Movements Through Hormuz

US President Donald Trump said the US military is playing a key role in facilitating record oil movements through the Strait of Hormuz. This comes as Washington seeks to maintain energy shipments despite the ongoing conflict with Iran.

According to Trump, the amount of oil transported over the weekend was the largest since the war began. US officials claim that roughly 60 million barrels of oil had passed through the strategic waterway over the previous 72 hours.

The Strait of Hormuz is a major global energy chokepoint linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, and tanker movements through it have been closely watched due to ongoing tensions between Iran and other countries in the region. US officials said that dozens of tankers were travelling under US protection, although volumes remained below pre-war levels.

The 60-million-barrel figure was attributed to US officials rather than independently verified shipping data. Reuters reported that 33.7 million barrels of crude had moved out through Hormuz during the week beginning September 20 as of September 25, with 49.2 million barrels shipped through the strait during the preceding full week.

The difficulty in measuring wartime oil flows was highlighted by the discrepancy between US officials' counts and commercial trackers' estimates, which rely on vessel-position data and may not capture ships operating without active identification signals.