The two missions the spokesman counted
US Central Command spokesman US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins said on Wednesday that traffic was flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, that forces had since early May assisted the movement of more than 900 million barrels of crude, and that more than 100 ships trying to violate the blockade had been redirected. In the same account he said mines had been cleared from internationally recognised primary shipping lanes several weeks ago.[1]
That account splits one briefing into two capabilities. Facilitation is a ship whose transit US forces accept and assist. The blockade is a ship bound for or leaving an Iranian port being turned away. Hawkins's sentence that the strait is open describes the first mission working where the second still sits. The pre-war tanker queue stays outside that sentence.[1]
A control claim beside fallen traffic
CENTCOM's written statement to RFE/RL said that in recent months thousands of commercial ships and nearly one billion barrels of oil had transited, and that Iran does not control the strait. The same report said commercial traffic plunged after the Iran war began in February. Barrels assisted are a US count of escorted work. They leave the daily traffic the war cut still missing.[1]
Hawkins's denial also leaves Iran's effective hold on the waterway unproven. One side's control claim and the other side's denial leave independently verified control unmapped. What can be counted today is US mine clearance and redirections sitting beside commercial flow that has been down since February.[1]
The deterrent bill is the redirected hull
Hawkins calls the blockade effective because more than 100 hulls were redirected. That is a cost imposed on trade bound for Iran ports. The open-lane claim is an assurance to buyers of seaborne crude. Both bills are charged to the same fleet. If the fleet runs short, the assurance thins first. A redirection count leaves the market still unfilled.[1]