The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) on Tuesday denied reports that the U.S. Navy had resumed escort operations for commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic area for global hydrocarbon transport.
This clarification comes after the publication of a Wall Street Journal article claiming that the US Navy had guided a Greek supertanker carrying approximately 2 million barrels of crude oil through the Strait of Gibraltar. The ship then reportedly continued on to India to deliver its cargo.
According to the American daily, the operation was carried out amid heightened maritime tensions in the area between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. The oil tanker in question had reportedly been stranded in the region since early March before being escorted by US forces.
CENTCOM, however, rejected this information, stating that no such escort operation had been conducted recently. The U.S. command did not elaborate further on the circumstances of this denial but disputed the very existence of the resumption of such a deployment.
The operation in question, dubbed "Project Freedom" according to some sources, was launched to secure the passage of merchant ships through the Strait of Hormuz before being suspended shortly after its commencement. This initiative aimed to protect maritime traffic in a waterway essential to the global oil trade.
The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world's most sensitive shipping lanes, regularly at the heart of tensions between regional and international powers. Any disruption in this area can have immediate repercussions on global energy markets.
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