Centcom: Over 1B crude oil barrels passed through Hormuz strait in recent months

U.S. Central Command (Centcom) Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said Saturday that U.S. forces supported the transport of over 1 billion crude oil barrels through the Strait of Hormuz “in the last couple of months” despite an ongoing exchange of strikes with Iran.

“We’ve reached this significant milestone while assisting over 2000 commercial ship transits through the Strait by providing coordinated protection. Clearly momentum is building,” Cooper said in a video posted on social media .

“Thousands of ships have passed through the Strait. Over 1 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,” he continued.

His remarks come as the national average for regular unleaded gas jumped from $4.31 to $4.43 in the span of four days this week, according to AAA . Meanwhile, the national average for diesel jumped 42 cents.

The strait, which carries around a fifth of the world’s oil consumption daily under normal conditions, has been effectively closed since the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran at the end of February — leading, in part, to the surge in energy prices.

Strait traffic in turn has broadly dipped since the conflict began. Trade intelligence company Kpler reported in August that, during one week of tracking, traffic had dropped from 11 vessels a day to six. This past Wednesday, a Reuters report citing Kpler data stated that three ships moved through the passage — down from ‌both the day prior, at 12, and its 10-day average, around 17.

Cooper said in his Saturday remarks that “the volume of crude oil, cargo, and liquid natural gas these past two weeks is higher than at any point in the past six months.”

Iran said Friday it struck an oil tanker that was attempting to “illegally pass” through the strait, the latest move in a war that recently passed the 200-day mark.

The closure has placed pressure on the Trump administration and Republicans ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. President Trump told supporters during a Wednesday rally in North Carolina that higher gas prices were a “very inexpensive price to pay” for the conflict.

“Do I want to go in and annihilate [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It’s a big decision,” he told Axios the next day. “Anything could happen with me.”

A New York Times/Siena University poll released this week found that 62 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the way Trump was handling the economy.