US forces have not yet escorted any oil tankers out of the Strait of Hormuz, the White House insists despite its own administration tweeting it was happening.
President Donald Trump’s Secretary Karoline Leavitt wouldn’t speak on whether there would be repercussions after Energy Secretary Chris Wright posted and promptly deleted from X claims that the US Navy escorted a ship carrying oil out of the strait from Iran.
‘I haven’t had a chance to talk to the Energy Secretary about it directly,’ Leavitt said at Tuesday’s press briefing. ‘However, I know the post was taken down pretty quickly.’
‘I can confirm that the US Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time,’ she insisted.
Leavitt would not rule out Trump approving such an option in the future of the conflict should it be necessary.
Wright posted a video of himself speaking with reporters on Monday in Colorado and admitting: ‘We are having restrictions of flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz right now.’
‘We announced that we will step into the insurance market, and ensure tankers to go through,’ he said in the remarks. ‘A large oil tanker went through about 36 hours ago. I think you will see more of those coming.’
Along with the video clip was the text: ‘The US Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets.’
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Energy Secretary Chris Wright tweeted incorrect information about a US Navy ship escorting an oil tanker out of the Strait of Hormuz. ‘I can confirm that the US Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time,’ she insisted
Trump has not ruled out the US escorting oil tankers out of the Strait of Hormuz in the future. Pictured: A US Navy operation on March 9, 2025 saw the firing of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles from an unidentified location
It was taken down shortly after it was posted, but not before others took note and screenshots of the news Wright decided to nonchalantly drop in the now-deleted X post.
A spokesperson for the Department of Energy said in a statement to the Daily Mail that it was a staff member at the office who made the post to Wright’s account.
‘A video clip was deleted from Secretary Wright’s official X account after it was determined to be incorrectly captioned by Department of Energy staff,’ the spokesperson wrote.
They added that discussion on how to get oil out of the region does include ‘the potential for our Navy to escort tankers.’
The US deciding to escort ships carrying tanks of oil out of the Hormuz Strait could help drastically with global oil prices and be a positive turn for the Trump administration amid the unpopularity of its involvement in the conflict in Iran.
Proof of this is how the markets responded swiftly to the conflicting reports of escort.
Prices of US crude oil plunged as much as 19 percent, slipping below $77 at the lowest point – and it remained below prices from earlier in the day even after Wright’s post was deleted and the White House said it was wrong.
International Brent crude briefly dropped 17 percent to below $80 per barrel but later rose back to more than $90 per barrel.
Leavitt admitted again at Tuesday’s briefing that oil prices would see a temporary rise, but that after the US operations in Iran were completed it would level out – and maybe even dip lower than they were pre-conflict.
An X user screen recorded the post that Secretary Wright published and then deleted on Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Wright posted a video to X in his post where he said at a press conference: ‘A large oil tanker went through about 36 hours ago. I think you will see more of those coming’
Trump posted to Truth Social after Leavitt’s briefing: ‘If Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait, and we have no reports of them doing so, we want them removed, immediately!’
He said if they are not removed, the US will respond with a level of military action Iran has ‘never seen before.’
‘If, on the other hand, they remove what may have been placed, it will be a giant step in the right direction!’ the President added.
It came after a post the day earlier where he made similar threats regarding the Strait of Hormuz – a massive oil shipping waterway passage that bottlenecks all ships seeking to flow in and out of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and parts of the United Arab Emirates.
