Trump Says ‘Secret Mission’ Moves 100 Million Barrels of Oil Through Strait of Hormuz

A “secret mission” has helped move millions of barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz without being detected by Iran, President Trump said Monday, as he taunted Iran with new military strikes.“We took out the other night, 22 ships late at night with no lights, because they don’t have any radar, because we blasted the crap out of it,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House.Mr. Trump later posted more information on his Truth Social page. “Today, I am pleased to announce that this effort has resulted in more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil making its way through the Strait, and into the Open Market.” Mr. Trump said America — not Iran — controls the strait and in the past month, the military has guided more than 200 commercial ships through it.Mr. Trump said military strikes against Iran will resume as he works on a lasting peace deal. “We hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them again hard today,” Mr. Trump said. “We’ll see what happens with a deal. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers.”In earlier posts on his Truth Social account, Mr. Trump said, “They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!” He then added: “The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!!”In his appearance before reporters, Mr. Trump revealed details about a Monday attack by an Iranian Shahed drone on an Apache helicopter. The drone smashed into the cockpit of the helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz. The aircraft went down in the water and two crewmen were rescued two hours later. “We got very lucky that bomb didn’t explode. That bomb was lodged in the helicopter. It caught fire but didn’t explode,” Mr. Trump said.On Tuesday, American forces carried out strikes on Iran in response to the incident and Iran carried out counterstrikes against several countries. The Gulf Cooperation Council condemned the Iranian attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, calling them “a blatant aggression against the sovereignty of states” in a statement released Wednesday at a meeting in Bahrain. “The Council affirms that these hostile acts do not serve any understanding or rapprochement, but rather distance peoples from one another, undermine the foundations of trust, sow discord and close the doors of dialogue,” the statement continued.The United Nation’s secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said the renewed attacks make the ceasefire “more like a lesser-fire.” “I call on all parties to honor the ceasefire and redouble efforts to reach a lasting agreement,” Mr. Guterres told the Security Council.Iranian state media reported that an American strike had damaged drinking water facilities in southern Iran, a move that Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, described as a “sign of desperation.” “Critical infrastructures are the lifeblood of the people,” Mr. Pezeshkian said in an X post. “Threats to target them—from transportation networks to the electricity and water industries—are not a show of strength but a sign of desperation in the face of a nation’s will.”The secret shipments are said to be passing as Iran seeks to evade an American blockade of its oil shipments. U.S. Central Command released video on Wednesday of an attack on an oil tanker it said was in violation. The video shows munitions hitting the ship’s engine room. In an X post, the military said that the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from American forces.The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations organization said the strike caused one fatality while two other members of the crew are missing.Centcom said American forces have disabled eight non-compliant vessels, redirected 134 ships that did comply, and allowed 42 vessels supporting humanitarian aid to pass since initiating the blockade on April 13.Mr. Trump called the blockade a “steel wall” and “the most successful blockade in the history of naval warfare.”

Trump Says ‘Secret Mission’ Moves 100 Million Barrels of Oil Through Strait of Hormuz

Trump Says ‘Secret Mission’ Moves 100 Million Barrels of Oil Through Strait of Hormuz

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