{"id":147108,"date":"2026-06-05T19:54:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/147108\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T19:54:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:54:45","slug":"how-the-us-secretly-guides-ships-through-the-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/147108\/","title":{"rendered":"How the US secretly guides ships through the Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States is launching helicopters from the coast of Oman to guide commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> in secret.<\/p>\n

Dozens of ships have been supported through the strategic waterway, turning off their transponders and often sailing under cover of darkness to avoid detection by Iranian radar and patrol boats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite continuing US and Iranian blockades shutting the strait, both sides have been quietly helping tankers navigate the waterway<\/a> to lessen the conflict\u2019s effect on global markets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The management of the strait<\/a> has been a sticking point in negotiations, but the apparent standoff both in the talks and on the water has been subverted by the secretive military operations, ensuring continued passage by stealth.<\/p>\n

The ships have to move slowly, operating without the usual navigation aids that would allow for sailing at faster speeds, largely relying on guidance from US forces watching the Iranian coast.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The US navy is helping a handful of tankers cross the Strait of Hormuz each day to try and alleviate the world oil crisis – US Centcom<\/p>\n

The US military has secured passage for up to four commercial vessels a day in recent weeks, and has been evaluating whether there \u201cappear to be any threats emanating from Iran\u201d, said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and retired US navy commander.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we have small boats making their way out into the Strait? Are there any missile launchers popping up over there, or any Shahed [drones] coming out of a village?\u201d he said. \u201cBasically, they\u2019re providing that sensing layer that allows you to run through the strait, and understand whether there are any threats coming at you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US is manoeuvring a tricky middle ground. Technically speaking, the US military is not offering resource-heavy official escorts for tankers but is keeping communication lines open about potential threats.<\/p>\n

A full defensive escort would require putting \u201cmilitary ships out there, and having them basically act as bodyguards for the shipping\u201d, said Cdr Clark. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the line the US doesn\u2019t want to go over.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US did try this \u2013 for a day. In early May, Donald Trump, the US president, announced \u201cProject Freedom<\/a>\u201d \u2013 an effort to escort stranded vessels out of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

\"Hundreds<\/p>\n

Hundreds of container ships remain stranded outside the Strait of Hormuz – Reuters<\/p>\n

Keeping such defences up would take significant military resources \u2013 roughly a dozen destroyers on rotation, which would basically consume all the surface combatants that the US navy has in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Now, America is taking a \u201cdifferent approach \u2026 which doesn\u2019t require you to necessarily put [military] ships between the enemy and the ship you\u2019re trying to protect, so it limits your risk,\u201d said Cdr Clark.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough US forces are not escorting, we continue to communicate and coordinate with commercial ships seeking to freely and safely transit the Strait of Hormuz, a critical international corridor for regional and global economies,\u201d the US Central Command, responsible for the Middle East, said earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Helicopters have been very useful as they can fly high enough to detect potential threats coming from Iranian territory.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what \u201cthey\u2019re trained for; except they\u2019re usually doing it against tanks and trucks. But here, they can do it against boats and drones\u201d, said Cdr Clark.<\/p>\n

The helicopters can also shoot down drones, possibly explaining recent US \u201cself-defence\u201d strikes against Iran.<\/p>\n

It is also possible that the US has put clandestine communication protocols in place \u2013 potentially providing radios to some commercial ships to prevent Iranians from listening in on conversations.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, vessels are hugging the coast of Oman, essentially staying as far away as possible from Iranian waters and potential mines.<\/p>\n

\"0605Transit<\/p>\n

0605Transit of the Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n

Experts say the majority of ships travelling this way are probably US-flagged vessels, as they will be more likely to trust in American guidance. Ships linked to allies, such as Japan and South Korea, may also be given priority.<\/p>\n

Other countries, such as China, India and Pakistan<\/a>, have made their own separate arrangements with Iran, which has established its own \u201csafe\u201d corridor of passage.<\/p>\n

Iranian authorities have directed vessels to deviate from the usual central route and sail closer to the coast.<\/p>\n

This gives Iran\u2019s feared Revolutionary Guards<\/a> the option of visually verifying vessels before waving them through the \u201cTehran tollbooth<\/a>\u201d. Some vessels have paid to sail through the strait, charging at least one oil tanker the sum of $2m (\u00a31.5m) according to industry analysts.<\/p>\n

But whether ships are passing with Iranian approval or US support, this remains only a temporary solution. The few ships sailing through with American military assistance amount to a very small fraction of the 135 vessels that typically transited through the strait each day before war broke out.<\/p>\n

Countries have already changed their buying patterns and rerouted supply chains elsewhere to mitigate the impact of Iran\u2019s closure of the strait.<\/p>\n

The level of traffic that used to pass through the shipping channel may never return to pre-war volumes, given worries that Iran may again seek to seal off the key waterway.<\/p>\n

While US support is allowing some vessels to pass, passage through Hormuz remains dangerous<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Iranians really wanted to stop this secret \u2018escort\u2019 mission, they could send a bunch of small boats out there,\u201d said Cdr Clark.<\/p>\n

But for now, \u201cthey\u2019ve chosen not to do that, maybe because they\u2019re looking not to escalate further\u201d, he said. \u201cIt seems like they\u2019re just trying to manage it, as opposed to completely stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States is launching helicopters from the coast of Oman to guide commercial vessels through the Strait…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[28],"tags":[8821,47654,5309,2566,2340,102,34,101,736],"class_list":["post-147108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-strait-of-hormuz","tag-bryan-clark","tag-cdr-clark","tag-commercial-vessels","tag-container-ships","tag-global-markets","tag-hormuz","tag-iran","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-us-navy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116699258331815379","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}