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Posted on 08/19/2026 8:47:03 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
It feels like it's not very often that the NY Times says something positive about an operation taking place under the direction of President Trump. But today they did just that with a story that notes an ongoing operation to help ships full of oil clear the Strait of Hormuz which is working, though obviously the total number of ships is still down compared to the situation prior to the war.
Only a few oil tankers braved Iran’s attacks to go through the Strait of Hormuz for much of the war, leading to a drastic reduction in how much crude reached world markets.
But since May, the U.S. military has played a crucial role in getting millions of barrels of oil through the strait, helping to keep oil prices from rising further.
The operation stealthily shepherds tankers through the southern part of the strait on routes close to Oman...
Before the war, about 15 million barrels of crude oil a day went through the Strait of Hormuz. In July, tankers using U.S. protected routes transported around five million barrels of oil daily out of the Persian Gulf, according to analysts.
“It’s one of the surprising successes,” said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a shipping analyst at Windward, a maritime analysis firm. “They have been extraordinarily effective in keeping that southern corridor operating, despite the attacks.”
There is of course a downside, which is that the efforts to protect shipping are expensive and are forcing ships and sailors to remain in the region much longer than expected.
To try to protect vessels on the southern corridor, Central Command uses a range of weapons that can intercept Iranian drones and missiles. Ship operators say they register any planned trips through the strait with the U.S. military, and then report possible threats or attacks as they occur. The United States uses ships, helicopters and planes to launch weapons to intercept attacks. It has helped over 1,000 ships transit the strait, according to Central Command.
Iran hasn't given up on stopping this traffic and routinely fires missiles at ships transiting close to Oman. At least 15 ships have been hit despite the U.S. Navy's protection and three crew members have been killed and several more injured in the attacks. Because of the inherent risk, not all of the shipping companies are willing to risk it, even with U.S. protection.
The upside is that while gas is still up about a dollar per gallon compared to a year ago, it hasn't spiked to the levels seen earlier this year. Here in California, the state average is about $5.50 which is high but not as high as the $6 we were seeing a few months ago. And the amount of oil making it through is going up.
Ms. Wiese Bockmann, the shipping analyst, said the amount of oil going through had been rising since May, when the tanker protection initiative began. Roughly four million barrels a day exited in June, rising to some five million a day in July, she said.
But there probably is a limit to how long we can keep all of these ships in place.
The Lincoln, for one, has been at sea since Nov. 21 without a port call that would allow the crew to rest, and will need a significant amount of maintenance before it can deploy again. The Japan-based carrier George Washington is coming to relieve the Lincoln, but a relief for the Norfolk-based Bush — which deployed on March 31 — has not been publicly identified.
As always, Iran's game is just to wait it out. If the regime survives they'll call that a victory no matter what shape the country is in.
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What type of ships are used as the escorts?
Destroyers?
Ok! This means 1/3 the normal flow has been happening for a couple of months...
Therefore, the price of gas at the pump should be reduced by 1/3 of the Iranian blockade increase, to a level consistent with the 5 million barrels...
In fact, I demand that the price per gallon be reduced to the level it was when I arrived at Yemassee, SC on my way to Paris Island in July 1951... That's $0.19 per gallon...
You would think. But energy-based anti-drone technology has been online for some time now on ships.
I wonder just how small a boat we could put one of those units on. Obviously, it would need a lot of electricity to work. And we don’t have a lot of things smaller than the Arleigh Burke class that would have enough juice.
Lets do the math:
15 million barrels a day thru the Strait before the war.
5 million barrels a day thru the Strait now.
Add to that, another 5 million barrels a day is being diverted thru pipelines by SA and UAE.
So we are now are now up 10/15 tor 2/3 of the pre war oil getting out of the region.
Meanwhile the blockade on Iran continues to strangle Iran.
*So we are now up to 10/15 or 2/3 of the pre war oil getting out of the region.*
I would think the enemies at the NYT would bury this story— unless there is also a hint that what’s happening may be an indictable offence.
New York Times: BS and more BS.
Down the line, we could retrofit almost any largish hull for the energy based systems, so long as said ship is fast enough to keep up with the tankers or cargo ships it is escorting. However, that’s no immediate help. Slightly quicker might be outfitting almost any hull with Ukie style defensive drones, and lots of them. This would be in addition to our Arleigh-Burke destroyers.
Something I’ve left out of my previous posts is that we don’t need high cost missile defense missiles to take out drones or even cruise missiles. We have all sorts of smaller / cheaper weapons including fighter plane launched weapons that can take out cruise missiles and drones. Even cheap aircraft that are essentially armed trainers can take out most drones.
When it comes to ballistic missiles and large cruise missiles, we should be able to spot those launches and concurrently with defense to stop an initial launch, we should be able to pop that launcher. Shooting the archers is almost always a lot more efficient than trying to shoot the arrows.
Best of all would be to simply smother Iran with millions of cheap Ukie style drones, such that any launcher was in jeopardy before it could even get a missile or drone off. However, we incompetently have not developed such production, even as we look over and see the Ukies, with limited resources and under fire, cranking out 10 million drones this year.
P.S. I still owe you a reply on another thread, but I’ve been having trouble finding enough time for lots of FR... I’ll try to get to it eventually. :-)
“So we are now are now up 10/15 tor 2/3 of the pre war oil getting out of the region.”
Iran used to export about 2 million bpd before the war, 90% through Kharg Island. That is probably about zero now, so a big chunk of what is no longer flowing through the Strait, is Iran’s former exports. Iran is getting the worst of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Unmentioned in the article is that fuel prices are higher than it seems they should be, due to a drop in global refining capacity (war damage), and, for that matter, IF they have any to spare, reduced transport out of Russia and the Middle East.
What type of ships are used as the escorts? Destroyers?
Nothing. There are no escorts. There are no U.S. warships operating in the Strait. Exiting tankers are assisted by communicating coordinates to follow a channel in Omani territorial water.
The 7 day average of oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz has been nine million barrels of oil a day
There is a steady flow of 7 million barrels of crude per day from the Saudi East West pipeline
Total oil shipments are on the order of 16 million barrels a day which is close to pre war norms
What is the cost to the US taxpayer and holders of Dollars of the US military subsidizing the flow of oil through the Strait, for the benefit not just of Americans but of the global markets? If we are not paying at the pump for the consequences of a completely closed Strait of Hormuz, we are nonetheless paying to keep the oil flowing.
GREAT
"Quantity has a quality all its own." ~ Rare wisdom from some evil russian guy that the russians themselves appear to have forgotten and that the US has disregarded altogether, despite our own manufacturing experience in WW eleven.
Iran used to export about 2 million bpd before the war, 90% through Kharg Island. That is probably about zero now, so a big chunk of what is no longer flowing through the Strait, is Iran's former exports. Iran is getting the worst of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Yes, good info thanks!
And I would also add that the US is now exporting 2 million barrels a day over 2023's numbers.
Add all of that together and it looks like the deficit is about 3 million barrels a day and not 15 million barrels.
And 2 million out of the 3 million, is us blockading Iran.
Iran's blockade of the Strait is puny. It's failing.
Trump's siege of Iran, instead of us putting boots on the ground, and instead of us bombing the crap out of the Iranian citizens, 70% who hate the mullahs, now comes into full view.
It's a good question. Nevertheless, I would add that "freedom isn't free".
“”It feels like it’s not very often that the NY Times says something positive about an operation taking place under the direction of President Trump. But today they did just that with a story that notes an ongoing operation to help ships full of oil clear the Strait of Hormuz which is working, though obviously the total number of ships is still down compared to the situation prior to the war.””
***
Better check, quick. Hell must have frozen over. Either that or the NYSlimes has some ulterior motive for actually reporting the truth there. I wonder what the motive is.... somebody cashing in and playing the stock market today?
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