More Than 1 Billion Barrels of Oil Transported Through Strait of Hormuz in Two Months: CENTCOM

More than 1 billion barrels of oil have been transported through the Strait of Hormuz over the past two months with the assistance of the United States, U.S. Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper said.

In a video message posted on social media platform X on Saturday, Cooper said the main shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz had been cleared of mines. More than 2,000 vessels have transited the waterway over the past two months, he said.

Cooper also claimed that the volume of oil and gas transported through the Strait of Hormuz over the past two weeks was the highest recorded in the previous six months. He further claimed that Iran had not been able to export a single barrel of oil during the period because of strict U.S. sanctions.

Earlier on Saturday, a senior White House official told AFP that between 10 million and 11 million barrels of oil were being transported through the Strait of Hormuz each day. The official also claimed that Iran’s influence over the waterway was declining week by week.

However, shipping data does not fully support that claim. Kpler, a company that monitors maritime traffic, reported that only three vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, compared with 12 the previous day. Over the past 10 days, an average of about 17 vessels per day have transited the strait.

The Strait of Hormuz carries around 20 percent of the world’s total oil supply. Since the launch of joint U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran on February 28, the strait has remained largely closed in practice because of restrictions imposed by Iran.

The waterway briefly reopened after a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran took effect on June 18. It was later closed again as military tensions escalated.

Iran has continued to claim control over the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has described the waterway as “open and operational.”