The U.S. military has quietly established a shipping corridor through the southern Strait of Hormuz, moving millions of barrels of oil into global markets each day while protecting tanker traffic from Iranian drones and cruise missiles, Axios reports.

The operation has been underway for several weeks, with roughly 15 to 20 tankers entering and exiting the strait each night through a southern channel along the coast of Oman. U.S. officials said close to 10 million barrels of oil are now moving out of the Gulf every day, roughly half the volume transported before the war.

On some nights, the amount has surged far higher, reaching between 15 million and 20 million barrels. More than 20 ships were scheduled to transit the southern lane Tuesday night, with approximately 15 million barrels of oil potentially leaving the Gulf.

The operation goes well beyond escorting tankers already carrying oil. The U.S. military is coordinating empty vessels traveling from the Arabian Sea into the Gulf, where they load oil from the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait before returning through the strait.

Each night, outbound vessels are organized into one large group and assigned a specific transit window, while inbound tankers move separately during another designated period. Ships are given checkpoints along the route and are required to report as they pass through them.

Above the corridor, U.S. Air Force fighter jets circle overhead searching for Iranian drones and cruise missiles and intercepting them when necessary.

“We have been controlling the southern lane of the Strait of Hormuz for two months now,” one U.S. official with direct knowledge of the operation said. “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps can be a nuisance, but they don’t control the strait. We do.”

The task force overseeing the operation is being run from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division headquarters at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and is coordinating closely with Gulf partners.

U.S. officials said the corridor became possible following a two-week U.S. Central Command campaign that degraded Iran’s radar and maritime-surveillance capabilities. Iran is now believed to have only limited visibility into traffic moving through the southern channel, relying on several restored radar systems and spotters aboard small IRGC fast boats.

With much of that surveillance capability degraded, Iranian forces have been launching drones and cruise missiles toward areas where they believe ships may be moving. Some vessels have been hit, but U.S. forces have intercepted many of the attacks.

On Monday night alone, American forces shot down eight Iranian drones and two cruise missiles, according to a U.S. official.

Officials said traffic through the corridor has continued steadily over the past two weeks, with 15 to 20 tankers moving through the southern channel each night and average daily oil exports steadily increasing.

President Trump told Axios on Wednesday that “there is a tremendous amount of oil coming out of the Strait of Hormuz.”

Trump also said the United States is not currently negotiating with Iran.

“They are wasting time. It’s a waste of time to negotiate with them,” Trump said.

“The Iranians still have some fight left, but overall they are a shell of themselves,” he added.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)