According to reports from The New York Times and The Independent, on June 10, former U.S. President Donald Trump disclosed a “secret mission” that involved moving millions of barrels of oil right under Iran’s nose.
Trump described the operation as extremely covert, claiming that Iran only found out about it recently.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on the morning of June 10, Trump said: “I can finally say this now. There are things you don’t know. Did you know we’ve been shipping out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knew. And you know who else didn’t know? Iran. They only found out just now.”
He added: “One night, we shipped out 22 vessels—deep in the night, no lights. Because they had no radar left; we blew up their radar.”
“I wanted to say it so badly, but I couldn’t risk messing up the operation. It was really tough,” he said. “We shipped out millions of barrels of oil. That’s why oil prices are at $85 or $90 a barrel today, not $250.”
However, The New York Times reports that the reality is far less dramatic. A senior U.S. military official stated that Trump was referring to a mission where the U.S. guided dozens of commercial tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
The report notes that while the operation was discreet, it was hardly news to Iran.
According to The New York Times, at the end of May, the media outlet published a story about this very operation, noting that U.S. Central Command had already guided around 70 commercial vessels through the strait.
The senior official added that over the course of a month, more than 200 ships had passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Later on June 10, Trump took to social media to announce that in May, he had ordered U.S. forces to carry out a secret mission to support tankers and other commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. “Today, I’m proud to announce that this operation has successfully moved over 100 million barrels of oil through the strait and into open markets, with more than 200 commercial vessels safely passing through,” he wrote.
He claimed the mission was a huge success because the U.S. controls the Strait of Hormuz, not Iran. “Their military has been defeated, and their economy is in collapse,” he asserted.
It is worth noting that in early May, U.S. forces launched “Operation Freedom,” aimed at clearing stranded oil tankers and other vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. But Trump quickly called a halt to the plan.
According to NBC News, two U.S. officials said that when Trump announced “Operation Freedom,” Gulf allies were caught off guard, and it infuriated Saudi leadership. In response, Saudi Arabia informed the U.S. that it would not allow American aircraft to take off from Prince Sultan Air Base southeast of Riyadh, nor permit U.S. military flights over Saudi airspace to support the operation.
Officials said that after the fallout, Trump spoke with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. But the call failed to resolve the issue, forcing Trump to suspend “Operation Freedom” in order to regain access to that critical airspace.
