President Donald Trump may be insisting that the US can, “if needed to”, escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz amid its war with Iran, but a top military general has now said the key waterway is a “tactically complex environment” — thus fueling the lack of clarity on American capability and intentions.
General Dan Caine of the US Air Force, who is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Friday acknowledged it may not be possible to escort traffic safely through the strategic link through which a large part of the Persian and Arab oil supplies move to the rest of the world.
“It’s a tactically complex environment. Before, I think, we want to take anything through there at scale, we want to make sure that we do the work pursuant to our current military objectives,” Caine, the topmost US military leader, said in comments that appear to inject tactical balance into claims-driven political rhetoric.
Earlier this week, two secretaries in the Trump administration seemed to suggest differing ideas about it too.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent told Sky News: “My belief that as soon as it is militarily possible, the US Navy, perhaps with an international coalition, will be escorting vessels through.” Energy secretary Chris Wright said days just this Thursday that the US military is currently “not ready” for the task.
Wright’s comments came as new attacks on at least two oil tankers in the strait killed at least one person, and oil prices briefly soared past $100.
“It’ll happen relatively soon, but it can’t happen now. We’re simply not ready,” Wright told CNBC, “All of our military assets right now are focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities.” He then claimed it was “quite likely” such escorts would be taking place by the end of the month.
US defence (or war) secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday dismissed reports that Iran has deployed about a dozen mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil.
“We’ve heard them talk about it just like you’ve reported recklessly and wildly about it. But … we have no clear evidence of that,” Hegseth said at a news briefing.
Since launching the war in collaboration with Israel, Trump has sought to calm the markets by saying US Navy can and will escorts oil tankers.
Prices have been soaring on Trump’s comments about the likely duration of the war, which is now engulfing the entire West Asia/Middle East region as Tehran targets US bases and key facilities in Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, among other places.
Trump at one point in the past two weeks said the war is “complete”, but has oscillated on what the objectives were or remain. He and his team have spoken of regime change, oil security, “freedom for women”, avoiding nuclear war, and general instability among reasons why Iran was attacked. This has led to bitter criticism of the Republican administration, which faces key mid-term polls later this year.
After nearly two weeks of war, 2,000 people have been killed, most of them in Iran, but many also in Lebanon and a growing number in the Gulf, which has for the first time in decades of conflicts in the region found itself at its centre.
Meanwhile, crude prices are up almost 40% since the start of the war.
Iran continues to say it has not closed the Strait of Hormuz — at least not out of choice.
Dr Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, Representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader in India, has said that his country never wanted the Strait to be blocked and some ships are still passing. At least one vessel has already reached India, for instance.
On Friday, the fighting continued, with the US saying it would launch its most fierce attack this week.
Iran fired more missiles and drones at Israel, and the Israeli military launched strikes across Tehran and continued to attack the Iranian-allied Hezbollah group across Lebanon and in the capital Beirut.
Iranian Press TV said a woman had been killed by an airstrike close to a rally in Tehran for Quds (Jerusalem) Day, one of many across Iran in support of Palestinians living in Israeli-occupied territory.
Iranian media said President Masoud Pezeshkian and foreign minister Abbas Araqchi attended the rally in a gesture of defiance.
The International Energy Agency has said the war was creating the biggest oil supply disruption in history. Average U.S. retail diesel prices hit $4.89 a gallon on Thursday, the highest since December 2022, data from the motorist association showed.
Trump said the US stood to profit from higher oil prices. “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he said on social media on Thursday, adding that the priority was to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.
Also casting the disruption in a positive light, treasury secretary Bessent called the rise in oil prices a “temporary disruption that will result in a massive benefit to our nation and economy in the long term”.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in his first comments on Thursday, vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut for enemies, and urged neighbouring countries to close US bases on their territory or risk being attacked themselves.
Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said Tehran has no intention to close the Strait of Hormuz amid the West Asia conflict but added that it is their “right to preserve the peace and security in this waterway”.
