U.S. Navy Sneakily Guides 70 Ships Through Blockaded Strait of Hormuz As Iran Peace Deal Stalls

The U.S. Navy has helped around 70 commercial vessels to transit through the Strait of Hormuz in the past three weeks, even as peace negotiations with Iran drag on, said U.S officials without giving details about the type of ships escorted or the route they took.

The vessels had turned off their transponders to avoid being detected by the Iranian navy when crossing the volatile waterway.

They took a route far from the Iranian coastline and closer to Oman, a US official said on the condition of anonymity since revealing the details could make the ships a target of attack by the IRGC.

There were 895 Hormuz crossings from March 1 to May 19, 2026, of which over half were from the Iranian route and the other 40% were from an unknown or dark route, reports suggest.

Analysts state that since the ships made ‘dark passages’, it is not clear how many ships had made the journey out safely.

However, this highlights that a few shipowners are willing to take a risk to get out of the Gulf region, where hundreds of vessels are still stuck and their crew stranded in difficult conditions.

The U.S effort provided an opportunity for shipowners who did not want to wait for Iranian approval or did not want to pay the toll to Tehran.

In May, Trump had announced a military operation, ‘Project Freedom’, to help ships pass through the waterway, but then ended it due to objections from Saudi Arabia.

From then onwards, Central Command urged vessels to make the crossings but did not offer naval escort.

US forces said that they are coordinating with ships to freely transit the Hormuz, which is being patrolled by U.S. Navy vessels, to ensure maritime safety and security in the waterway, which handles one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas shipments.

In April, the U.S. began a naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman against ships visiting Iranian ports and has so far redirected 116 vessels, cutting off Iranian oil exports.

Recently, U.S President Trump had said that the U.S. was close to making a deal with Iran if it could guarantee that the nuclear stockpile it possesses would not be used to make weapons.

Meanwhile, Iran also asked the U.S. to ensure all economic sanctions on the country are lifted, and all financial assets and frozen funds are released.