On Tuesday, the White House clarified that the US Navy has not yet provided an escort for any oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. This statement followed a now-deleted social media post by the US energy secretary, which had erroneously claimed such an escort had occurred in the contentious shipping lane.
During a White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt affirmed, “I can confirm that the US Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time.” She added that President Trump considers this a viable option that he would “absolutely utilize if and when necessary, at the appropriate time.”
Subsequently, a spokesperson for the Energy Department explained that a video on Wright’s X account contained a caption that was “incorrectly captioned by Department of Energy staff.”
The spokesperson further stated that “President Trump, Secretary Wright, and the rest of the President’s energy team are closely monitoring the situation, speaking with industry leaders, and having the U.S. military draw up additional options to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, including the potential for our Navy to escort tankers.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Wright’s official X account had published a post stating: “The U.S. Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets.” This post was removed within minutes.
General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, remarked on Tuesday morning that should the military be “tasked to escort” oil vessels through the strait, they would “look at the range of options to set the military conditions to be able to do that.”
The concept of naval escorts was initially proposed by Trump last week, though he expressed on Monday a desire to avoid their necessity. According to several sources familiar with the planning, internal discussions regarding the precise timing and parameters for any US naval intervention have been a central focus within the administration.
Already experiencing a downturn, oil prices dropped further following Wright’s post, only to recover some of those losses once the message was retracted.
Before Wright’s announcement, US crude oil was priced just over $84 per barrel. It then plunged to $76.73 per barrel shortly after the post, only to rebound to approximately $84.70 per barrel by 2:23 p.m. ET. Despite the recovery, US oil prices remained over 10% lower for the day.