U.S. forces have supported the passage of more than one billion barrels of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz in recent months while Iran has exported none under Washington’s “ironclad blockade,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper announced Saturday.
Cooper said American forces reached the milestone while providing coordinated protection for more than 2,000 commercial ship transits through the strategic waterway.
“Clearly, momentum is building,” he said in a video update.
The volume of crude oil, cargo, and liquefied natural gas moving through Hormuz over the past two weeks is higher than at any point in the six months since the war began on February 28, Cooper said, while the strait’s primary transit lanes remain clear of mines.
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“Over one billion barrels of crude have been shipped from Gulf partners through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has exported zero barrels, thanks to our ironclad blockade,” Cooper said.
Saturday’s update builds on what Cooper called a “major milestone” on August 28, when CENTCOM announced that U.S. forces had cleared Iranian sea mines from the internationally recognized transit lanes through Hormuz after months of dangerous mine-clearing operations.
Cooper said the work was carried out “meticulously and quietly” by forces across the U.S. military, declaring at the time that the international shipping lanes were open and “momentum is building.”
Even as U.S. forces have expanded protected commercial traffic through Hormuz, the blockade against Iran has remained in force. CENTCOM said Friday that American forces had redirected 105 commercial vessels to ensure compliance, maintaining what Cooper says has been a complete cutoff of Iranian oil exports through the waterway.
Source:
Liên Minh Bảo Hiến Mỹ Gốc Việt
Vietnamese American Conservative Alliance (VACA)
https://freedom-vaca.org/vaca-blog-tieng-viet-nam/