The United States Is Shuttling Ships Through the Strait of Hormuz

According to the New York Times, the United States has conducted stealth missions near the Omani coast, successfully shuttling tankers through the Strait of Hormuz carrying about 5 million barrels of oil daily throughout July. Energy Secretary Chris Wright estimates that around 9 million barrels of oil are passing through the strait daily, higher than the reported 5 million figure. The U.S. Navy has been guiding ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, freeing millions of barrels of oil a day. The missions began in May with the U.S. Navy guiding around 70 ships through the strait in the first three weeks — many opting to turn off their radars to leave the Gulf undetected. Besides helping outbound traffic, Axios reports that the U.S. military is helping empty tankers enter the Gulf from the Arabian Sea through the strait, pick up oil from countries in the region, and then exit.

According to Axios, a U.S. task force coordinates with regional Gulf partners, creating a daily list of ships coming out of the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Arabian Sea, as well as a list of rented empty tankers that travel from the Arabian Sea, through the strait and into the ports of Gulf countries to pick up more oil. Each night, the ships are scheduled to move in one big outbound line during a certain time slot and one big inbound line during a separate time slot. To make this work, the U.S. Central Command, which oversees the missions, degraded Iran’s radar and maritime surveillance systems. With diminished visibility of ship movement in the southern channel of the strait, Iran’s monitoring is limited to a few radars it has managed to reconstitute as well as “spotters” in small military fast boats. So, Iran is essentially launching drones and cruise missiles in the general direction of where ships might be transiting. Over the past two weeks, 15–20 tankers have transited in and out of the Strait of Hormuz each night through the southern channel.

U.S. Central Command estimates that it has aided more than 1,000 ships through the strait since the war began. According to the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization, about 15 ships have been damaged by Iranian fire since June, with the UK Maritime Trade Operations reporting the death of three seafarers and 16 injured. Some ships fear transiting due to threats of Iranian attacks, leaving an estimated two-thirds of the pre-war oil flow still trapped in the Gulf, according to the N.Y. Post.

With negotiations between Iran and the United States at a standstill, President Trump indicates that the United States will launch all-out “economic warfare” against Iran. He warned of economic consequences against any country that provided “any type of lifeline to Iran.” The United Arab Emirates reported that it was suspending all trade activities, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice. The announcement came after the UAE defense ministry said it had detected two missiles launched from ​Iran that fell into the sea. And last week, the Emirates accused Iran of attacking an Emirati oil tanker traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. The recent attacks on Emirati oil tankers elicited a condemnation from the Emirati government, with the Emirati Foreign Ministry accusing Iran of targeting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz as “a tool of economic coercion or blackmail” that constituted a “direct threat to the stability of the region.”

According to the N.Y. Times, the Emirates, located 50 miles from Iran across the Persian Gulf, has had close economic and cultural ties with the Islamic Republic for decades, despite political tensions between the two countries. Iranian-Emirati trade was worth roughly $28 billion in 2024, when the Emirates was Iran’s largest source of imports, providing electronics, precious metals and other goods to Iran. Analysts believe that trade through Dubai, the Emirates’ largest city, has long been key to Iranian efforts to evade sanctions. It is unclear, however, how quickly the Emirati government will move to enforce a suspension of economic ties, as Iran and the Emirates are economically interdependent.

Before the Iran conflict began in February, Emirati officials had pursued a strategy of diplomacy and economic engagement with Iran, hoping it would insulate the Emirates from any conflict. But ties between the Emirates and Iran rapidly soured as the Emirates, which hosts a major American military base, reported more than 2,700 ballistic missile and drone attacks from Iran. In March, the Emirati government ordered the closure of a historic Iranian Hospital in Dubai, as well as a cultural club and several schools that were connected to Iran’s government. The Emirati government also began revoking the visas and residency permits of some Iranian expatriates, stranding many abroad. The Emirati military also carried out secret strikes on Iran. After the United States and Iran reached a cease-fire agreement in April and a preliminary peace deal in June, tensions between the Emirates and Iran eased. Iran has recently largely focused its attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait.

Conclusion

The U.S. Navy has been guiding oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz with as much as 9 million barrels of oil per day transiting the strait. Oil tankers in the Gulf are shuttled through the southern part of the strait in a group, while a separate group of empty tankers is shuttled into the Gulf via the same part of the strait to be filled with oil each day. This is like the “convoys” system used across the Atlantic to ensure transport of material to allies during WWII. The United States achieved this by degrading Iran’s radar and maritime surveillance systems. President Trump indicates that due to Iran’s failure to negotiate, the United States will inflict all-out “economic warfare” against Iran, with economic consequences against any country that provides “any type of lifeline to Iran.”  The United Arab Emirates announced it is halting all trade with Iran, despite their substantial economic interdependency, as the Emirates are Iran’s largest source of imports and its financial hub in Dubai is thought essential to its evasion of sanctions.