Commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran. Photo: AP
h The US military escorted 40 commercial vessels carrying around 18 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, September 1, marking its largest single-day operation of the war, CNN reported on Wednesday, September 2, citing two US officials familiar with the operation.
The mission came as the US and Iran exchanged another round of strikes. During the operation, US forces also hit nearly 60 Iranian military targets around the strategic waterway, the report said.
Before the war began more than six months ago, about 20 million barrels of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz each day.
US forces used air, sea and space assets to protect the vessels while carrying out strikes against Iranian military capabilities near the strait. The targets included air defence sites, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites.
The officials said US forces also defended the ships against drone attacks and neutralised anti-ship cruise missiles during the operation. Most or all of the 40 vessels also switched off their transponders while passing through the strait to avoid detection, according to the report.
The operation is part of Washington’s wider strategy of keeping commercial shipping moving through the strait while reducing Iran’s ability to threaten vessels using the route.
Further strikes near the waterway are likely as Iran has shown it can rebuild some of the military capabilities damaged in previous attacks, the report said.
The US military is also continuing mine-clearance operations and hopes to widen the shipping lane through the strait by next month, allowing vessels more room to manoeuvre and potentially increasing oil flows.
The focus on Hormuz has also put some other US objectives on the back burner. Operations against parts of Iran’s nuclear programme have received less attention for now as US Central Command concentrates on the strait and Iranian oil flows, according to one of the officials.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the latest US attacks had gone beyond targeting Iranian radar systems.
“They were trying to see the ships,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “They can’t see it because they have no radar, because we blew it up, and we blew up much more than their radar last night.”
Trump did not specify the additional targets but again claimed the United States controlled the strategically important waterway.
Later on Wednesday, he suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait” in a Truth Social post, repeating his assertion of US control over the route despite the continuing conflict with Iran.
Despite the record operation, shipping companies remain wary of sending vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
The threat of drones, missiles and mines continues to pose a risk, even for ships travelling under military escort. High insurance costs and rising tanker charter rates have also made the journey more expensive.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with CNBC earlier this week that more than 17 million barrels of oil passed through the strait on August 31, which he described as a wartime record.
Energy and shipping companies, however, remain cautious about using the waterway despite US military escorts, according to the report. It said tankers carrying liquefied natural gas have been particularly reluctant to transit the strait because of the potential consequences of an attack.
This post was last modified on September 3, 2026 12:58 pm