President Trump Was Right: America Controls the Strait of Hormuz

U.S. Central Command confirms what Democrats and the Fake News have spent months denying: the United States - not the Islamic Republic of Iran - controls the Strait of Hormuz. American forces are keeping energy moving to the world while denying Tehran the revenue it needs to threaten global commerce.

Here are the facts:

• Iranian mines have been cleared from the Strait's international shipping lanes.
• Nearly 1,500 commercial vessels have moved through under U.S. protection, carrying 750 million barrels of crude to the world.
• Iran has exported zero oil from its shores since the blockade resumed in July.
• 75 vessels that tried to break the blockade were turned around.
• Gulf oil exports have recovered to two-thirds of pre-operation levels - and continue to rise.

President Trump was right - again:

• August 10: "The only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the United States Navy. We have a blockade that's been infallible. It's a steel wall… We control the Strait, 100%."
• August 11: "We totally control the Strait of Hormuz. We have control over it. Nobody else - only us."
• August 14: "In the true sense, we own the Hormuz Strait, and we only allow boats to come in if we want them to come in."
• August 17: "We have total control over the Strait… The Strait is open."
• August 19: "Right now, the Strait is open. A lot of boats are coming through. People aren't reporting that… The naval blockade has been extremely effective."
• August 21: "We have total control of that entire region having to do with the Strait of Hormuz."
• August 26: "The Strait is open. We take a lot of ships through the Strait now… It's a very functioning Strait. A lot of oil is pouring out."
• August 27: "The Strait of Hormuz is open. We have control, and we have the blockade. Iran is not getting anything; nothing is going through."

Here's what they're saying:

• Former Deputy National Security Advisor KT McFarland: "Iran overplayed its hand by closing Strait. Countries developed work-arounds w/ pipelines, US exports, and then reopened Strait. For 50 yrs Iran blackmailed world. No longer. That card is dead."
• West Point Chair of Urban Warfare Studies John Spencer: "Despite all the rhetoric coming out of Tehran, the reality is clear: the U.S. blockade of Iran is effective. Iran's claims that it has closed the Strait of Hormuz are false. It has neither closed the strait nor effectively stopped maritime traffic."
• United Against Nuclear Iran Policy Director Jason Brodsky: "Tehran can hoot, holler, and threaten, but its hold over the Strait of Hormuz is being eroded, while its economy is deteriorating and its revenue streams are drying up."
• Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs: "There is a demoralization campaign to make people think we've lost this war. But the evidence just doesn't support that. USF have been clearing the Strait and are successfully getting oil through while degrading the IRGC's weapons and cutting off its resources."
• Institute for National Security Studies Iran and Shiite Axis Program Director Raz Zimmt: "Significant statements from Tehran today point to a growing recognition among the Iranian leadership of the severity of the economic situation and the erosion of Iran's ability to use the Strait of Hormuz as leverage in light of U.S. military gains in opening a corridor through the strait."
• Former Deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates: "By far Trump's most devastating tool was the imposition of the U.S. blockade on Iranian exports through the Strait of Hormuz last April. Iran is now losing an additional $13 billion a month and is also cut off from critical imports. … The sanctions Bessent announced Monday are going to accelerate economic decline into a collapse."
• Analyst Adolfo Franco: "Six months into the conflict between the United States and Iran, the situation is not the humiliating quagmire that critics of the Trump administration insist upon. Instead, President Trump has charted a new and far more patient strategy that is making steady progress towards his objectives. The quick victory that some initially envisioned by destroying the regime's military power has given way to a slow and consistent tightening of the noose aimed at denying the Iranian regime the economic oxygen it needs to survive. Although the conflict is far from over, the evidence is that this new focus is working and will continue. The reflexive opposition of critics at home and abroad has not dissuaded the Trump administration. Instead, what we are witnessing is a grinding contest of attrition in which the pressure is compounding over time, steadily narrowing the Iranian regime's resources and options."
• Qatar University Director of the Gulf Studies Center Dr. Mahjoob Zweiri: "Economic pressure is testing Iran where it is weakest and sharpening divisions within its leadership."
• FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz: "Those of us who stood firmly against the regime in Iran did so because we had supreme confidence in @CENTCOM leadership-and in the extraordinary courage, skill, and professionalism of the remarkable men and women of the U.S. military. That confidence has been more than justified. Profound gratitude to everyone who is making it possible."
• FDD Senior Advisor Richard Goldberg: "The blockade is working. Project Freedom is still going. We are getting 5mpbd out even with IRGC threats. Alternatives are accelerating. IRGC knows its financial sector is a house of cards."
• Commentator Scott Jennings: "Iran has exported no oil since resumption of US blockade in July. The US Navy has helped move 750 million barrels of oil out of the Gulf. Incredible."

The economic pressure on the Iranian regime is only tightening. Operation Economic Outcast is now cutting off every remaining lifeline to the regime as a domestic fuel crisis, collapsing currency, and crushing inflation starves the regime of its ability to project power.

President Trump has been clear: he will keep the pressure on the Islamic Republic until it can no longer threaten the world.