US forces escorted 40 commercial vessels carrying around 18 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, a wartime high, as Washington and Tehran exchanged a fresh round of strikes, according to two US officials cited by CNN, according to a TOI report by Vivek Dubey.
The high-risk escort came as US forces simultaneously struck nearly 60 Iranian military targets around the strategic waterway, while defending the escorted vessels against waves of drone attacks and neutralising anti-ship cruise missiles, the officials said.
The war between the US and Iran began on February 28, 2026, after the US and Israel launched surprise strikes on Iranian military and government targets, including the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Before the war, around 20 million barrels of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz each day, but shipping through the waterway has since slowed to a trickle, disrupting global energy markets and pushing up prices.
The operation involved a range of air, sea and space assets and was part of a broader US strategy to control the strait, protect commercial shipping and increase economic pressure on Iran, the officials said. Targets hit on Tuesday included air defence sites, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites. US forces also continued a naval blockade of Iranian ports, with Central Command directed to focus its efforts on the strait and on preventing oil exports from leaving or entering Iranian ports.
The escalation follows a series of incidents through the week. On Sunday, the US struck Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran was preparing to use them to fire mines into the waterway; Iran retaliated by launching missiles at American bases in Jordan, which were intercepted.
On Monday, a Saudi Arabia-flagged crude oil tanker came under attack and caught fire as it was preparing to cross the strait, killing two Filipino crew members; 14 other Filipino crew members survived. Iran has also stepped up attacks on US allies in the Gulf: Bahrain said its air defence systems intercepted several Iranian air attacks early Wednesday, while Iranian state media reported drone attacks on US bases in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said the strikes were carried out because Iran "took a shot at us in Jordan," calling it a "very heavy attack." "We hit them hard last night, very hard. They gave a little love tap, but we hit them very hard last night," he said.
On the waterway at the centre of the conflict, Trump said the US now had "very strong control" over the Strait of Hormuz, claiming American forces had cleared mines from the passage while continuing to escort out boats carrying millions of barrels of oil. He said Iranian forces were attempting to rebuild the radar, missile and mine-laying systems the US had destroyed, but that American forces were still tracking and hitting vessels regardless. "We're taking out a lot of ships; they can't see them because they have no radar because we blew it up," he said, adding that the US was prepared to strike again "anytime we want." Trump said he did not expect the war to continue "much longer," though he gave no timeline for when the fighting, or the disruption to shipping through the strait, might end.
Iranian media reported that a US strike hit a home hosting a wedding in Kuhestak, killing four people and wounding at least 68. The US military said it was aware of the report but that it "never targets civilians."
Despite the escort, the operation has not eased concerns among energy companies about sending ships through the strait even under military protection, and oil prices remain elevated. According to one US official, operations aimed at eliminating elements of Iran's nuclear programme have effectively been "backburnered" as the focus shifts to securing the waterway and restricting Iranian oil flows.
Diplomatic efforts to end the six-month-old conflict are continuing. Egypt and Qatar have called for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations, while Pakistan said it remains engaged in mediation efforts. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said Washington was pressuring countries still doing business with Iran, saying, "My message to everyone is stay away."
