Quick overview

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The US claimed that its navy has never escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz in response to an earlier, since-deleted social media post by Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

“I know the post was taken down pretty quickly, and I can confirm that the US Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time, though, of course, that’s an option the president has said he will absolutely utilize if and when necessary.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.

Global oil prices continued to fall after Wright’s post on X, and the accompanying video briefly appeared. However, some of that decline was reversed fifteen minutes later when the post disappeared without any explanation.

There was uncertainty about whether an escorted tanker had actually crossed the crucial waterway in the midst of a heated and unstable period for the oil market.

Anxiety over the lack of exports through the Strait of Hormuz caused prices to spike on Monday. However, they fell precipitously on Tuesday after President Donald Trump stated that the Iranian war would soon be resolved and considered ways to ease the supply of crude, such as releasing emergency stockpiles. As stated in the now-deleted post:

The Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz. guarantee that oil continues to flow to international markets.

A video of Wright stating that “a large oil tanker went through about 36 hours ago” at a recent event was included in the post. I believe there will be more of those in the future. Due to owners’ concerns about security, nearly all commercial trade through Hormuz stopped once the Iran War started.

This prevented tankers from leaving the Gulf, filling storage, and forcing manufacturers to reduce their output.