WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 — The United States and Iran are both claiming control over the Strait of Hormuz, with the Trump administration insisting that the US Navy is keeping the strategic waterway open to oil traffic even as independent trackers report shipping remains far below prewar levels.
Ships were seen in the Strait on Saturday as President Donald Trump and his aides asserted that a near prewar level of Gulf oil is now moving through the passage, through which about 20% of the world’s traded oil flowed before the war began. Vice President JD Vance told a press briefing on Thursday that the US escorted roughly 15 million barrels of oil through the waterway on Wednesday.
That followed Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s statement to CNBC on Wednesday that 17 million barrels were carried through the Strait on Monday with US Navy assistance. Before the conflict, about 20 million barrels of Gulf oil transited the Strait daily. Independent firms that track marine traffic say current volumes remain well below that benchmark.
Escalation hampers recovery
The traffic recovery has been complicated this week by renewed US attacks on targets inside Iran and retaliatory strikes from Tehran across the region, according to the report. The renewed hostilities have also pushed fuel prices to fresh records in several countries. In the US, diesel climbed to an average of $5.85 a gallon for the first time since the conflict began.
UK petrol prices reached their highest level in six months, hitting 163p per litre — approximately US$2.06 per litre at the exchange rate then in effect. With both Washington and Tehran publicly claiming control of the waterway, the immediate question is whether the US military can sustain the escort operations that officials say are moving Gulf oil to market — and at what cost to global fuel prices if the dueling claims escalate further.
