Two US Navy destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz without incident — the first crossing since the war began — as Trump declared the clearance underway.
Trump announced that the United States has begun "clearing out" the Strait of Hormuz, claiming that all 28 of Iran's mine-laying vessels have been sunk and that US warships are now transiting the waterway unchallenged. Two Navy destroyers reportedly crossed the strait without incident — the first such passage since the conflict erupted six weeks ago when Operation Epic Fury killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Iran retaliated by shutting down the world's most critical oil chokepoint.
The reality beneath the rhetoric is messier. Iran scattered mines across the strait during the early days of the war, and even Tehran cannot account for all of them. Commercial shipping remains frozen, insurers refuse to cover vessels transiting the passage, and the Coast Guard has yet to declare any lane fully safe for tanker traffic. Empty tankers heading toward the US to load crude may signal confidence, but they are sailing toward ports that still depend on oil flowing through a waterway that is not yet open for business.
For Trump, the Hormuz narrative is a high-wire act. Every day the strait stays closed, gasoline prices climb and his promise of cheap American energy erodes. The military has the firepower to enforce freedom of navigation, but doing so aggressively risks collapsing the ceasefire just as Vance and Kushner sit down with Iranian negotiators in Islamabad. The coming days will test whether Trump can keep the pressure on without detonating the diplomacy his own team is trying to build.