U.S. Navy Tells Shipping Industry Hormuz Escorts Not Possible For Now

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy has rejected the shipping industry’s almost daily demands for a military escort in the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war against Iran, saying the risk of attack is too high for now, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Navy’s assessments point to continued disruption to Middle East oil exports and reflect a departure from President Donald Trump’s statements that the United States is ready to provide naval escorts as needed to restart regular shipments through the crucial waterway.

Shipping across the bottleneck has almost completely stopped since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran more than a week ago; This prevents exports of approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil supply and causes global oil prices to rise to highs not seen since 2022.

According to reports in Iranian media last week, a senior official from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said that the strait was closed and Iran would open fire on any ship that tried to pass. Many ships have already been hit.

The U.S. Navy holds regular briefings with its shipping and oil industry counterparts during which it has said it cannot provide escorts for now, three maritime industry sources familiar with the matter said.

Sources, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said that the maritime industry makes requests almost every day during sea escort calls for passage through the Bosphorus.

One of the sources said the Navy’s assessment during Tuesday’s briefing remained unchanged and that escorts would be possible only after the risk of attack had been reduced.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has repeatedly said in recent days that the United States is ready to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary.

“When the time comes, the U.S. Navy and its partners will escort tankers across the strait if necessary. Hopefully that won’t be necessary, but we will escort them across the strait if necessary,” he said at a news conference at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday.

The US military has begun exploring options to escort ships through the strait if ordered to do so, Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said Tuesday.

“We’re looking at a number of options here,” Caine told reporters at the Pentagon.

A US official told Reuters that the US military had not yet escorted any commercial ships passing through the strait. Earlier in the day, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright deleted a post in which he said the Navy had successfully escorted the X.

Although there have been some sailings through the waterway in recent days, most shipping traffic remains suspended as hundreds of ships remain at anchor.

Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, the world’s biggest oil exporter, said on Tuesday there would be “catastrophic consequences” for world oil markets if the war against Iran continues to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Maritime security experts and analysts have said securing the strait will be difficult, even if it requires an international coalition, because of Iran’s ability to plant mines or deploy cheaply produced attack drones.

“Neither France, nor the United States, nor the international coalition nor anyone else is in a position to secure the Strait of Hormuz,” said Adel Bakawan, director of the European Institute for Middle East and North African Studies.

Last week, Iran damaged a crude oil tanker anchored in Iraqi waters using a remote-controlled, explosives-laden boat, according to initial assessments from two port security sources in Iraq.

Securing the strait could require the United States to take control of large swaths of Iran’s coastline, a maritime security source said.

“There are not enough navy ships to do this, and even with escort the risks remain high. One or two ships could be overwhelmed by a swarm (of fast boats or drones),” the source said.

The Pentagon on Tuesday renewed its threat to hit Iran harder if the shipments fail to pass, saying it would hit Iran’s mine-laying ships and mine storage facilities.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul in London; Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart in Washington; Arathy Somasekhar in Houston and John Irish in Paris; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Lisa Shumaker)