US says it helped export 1.5 billion barrels of oil through Hormuz

The US Middle East Military Command (Centcom) said on Sunday it had helped Gulf countries export 1.5 billion barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz since the summer, bypassing the Iranian barrier. “US forces have reached the milestone of 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil exported since the summer with the assistance provided to their Gulf partners,” Centcom said in a statement on

“Today, the main shipping lanes of the Strait of Hormuz remain clear of any Iranian mines thanks to the remarkable efforts of our teams,” assured the head of Centcom, Admiral Brad Cooper, who visited American troops deployed in this area. Authorization to pass the strait Iran has claimed control of the strait, a strategic sea route, since the outbreak of war in the Middle East on February 28 by American and Israeli strikes on Tehran. The Islamic Republic requires that ships obtain authorization to pass the strait, through which a fifth of world oil exports passed before the war.

Washington in return imposes a blockade of Iranian ports. Attacks against ships contravening Iranian demands have resumed with force in recent days, Tehran wanting, according to analysts, to demonstrate that its capacity to disrupt traffic remains intact, particularly in the run-up to the mid-term elections in the United States, where the surge in oil prices is fueling discontent against the camp of President Donald Trump.

Machine-translated from French