The Trump administration has vowed to escort oil tankers to the Strait of Hormuz. How would that work? 2026

The Trump administration has vowed to escort oil tankers to the Strait of Hormuz. How would that work? As the oil markets are crippled by the war between the US and IranThe Trump administration is weighing a military operation to escort ships to a key maritime location — a major operation that experts say may be in the preparatory stages.

Since the war between America and Israel and Iran began two weeks ago, more than ten attacks have been reported oil tankers and other cargo vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Iranian officials did apparently threatening ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the world’s oceans.

Fearing an attack, oil tankers have stopped passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20% of the world’s oil – most of which Iranian and Chinese ships pass through. And with nowhere to ship their goods, some major Arab oil exporters have cut production. In the past two weeks, oil prices have risen nearly 40% amid concerns about supply shortages.

This disruption has led President Trump to consider providing naval forces to escort ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, in the hope that military protection could remove the gridlock.

“When the time comes, the US Navy and its allies will escort tankers to the Strait if needed,” the president told reporters last week. “I hope it won’t be necessary, but if it is necessary, we will escort them through.”

Over the weekend, Mr. Trump has called on several other countries – including China, Japan and South Korea – to help “guard” the Strait, although he has not yet specified who might be involved. He told reporters on Monday that “many countries have told me that they are on their way,” the president said, although he did not specify which ones. “Some are very interested in it, while others are not,” he said, promising a list that will be released soon. His view is that other countries should take responsibility for opening the Strait since the US is not dependent on Middle Eastern oil – although global oil markets still affect the price Americans pay at the pump.

But administration officials have suggested they are not ready to begin escorting the navy just yet. Energy Secretary Christopher Wright said last week “it will happen soon, but it won’t happen now,” and pointed to the end of the month as a possible timeline.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the escort would begin “as soon as militarily possible.”

Military experts told CBS News that any efforts to herd oil tankers in the Strait – possible Iranian mines, missiles, drones and “kamikaze” boats packed with explosives – would require preparations to limit Iran’s ability to strike at sea. After that, it could include US ships, jets and surveillance capabilities. But the operation would not be without risk.

What needs to happen for the guides to start?

CBS News military analyst Aaron MacLean described any potential oil tanker escort operation as a two-phase operation: First, the US needs to “prepare the battlefield by reducing Iran’s stockpiles of anything that can kill the ships,” and then in the second phase, it can begin escorting.

That first phase may be underway, said MacLean, a Marine Corps veteran, former member of the US Naval Academy and a former foreign policy adviser to GOP Sen. Tom Cotton from Arkansas.

In the past two weeks, US Central Command says it has struck about 6,000 Iranian targets, including anti-missile sites, drone manufacturing facilities and mine laying ships.

Reducing Iran’s military base — including missiles, drones, mines and boats — is important before the ships are escorted, MacLean said, because “you want a lot of revenue. [fire] be controllable enough to be able to reliably stop it if it happens.”

“They can do it today, but the earlier you go, the more dangerous it is,” MacLean explained. “If you put US Navy ships near the Iranian coast right now, they’re going to get a real game right away, and the stakes are very high.”

Seth Jones, president of the department of defense and security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CBS News that it is possible that the US military is preparing an escort to the Strait of Hormuz by “degrading the Iranian ability to lay mines and strike.”

“I suspect that the US Navy will not want to enter the Strait unless it is confident that threats have been reduced, especially air strikes,” he said.

Asked when they might begin the escort, Wright suggested on CNBC last week that the Trump administration is still in the preparation phase.

“We are not ready. All of our military assets are currently focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that provides its offensive capabilities,” the energy secretary said.

How will escort ships work?

The right time to start escorting people to the Strait of Hormuz is a judgment call to be made by the US Central Command, said MacLean.

“You can’t wait forever because you have to open that thing,” he said. “So at some point they’ll realize they’re comfortable with the risk, and they’ll pull out convoy ops.”

He said the escort operation could involve the Navy stationing areas where commercial vessels are patrolled or at the end of a disputed area – which could be forced into the Strait of Hormuz, or could go further into the Persian Gulf.

“And then, like a mother duck and her little duckling, a US Navy ship, or a ship from a partner navy, will escort several ships over time,” he said.

Those ships will likely be supported by air cover and surveillance, MacLean added. And Jones said the mission could include mine-sweeping capabilities, airstrikes against Iranian threats on the coast and a nearby rapid-reaction force that could deal with an attack.

The first few ships to pass may be targeted, MacLean said.

“We know that the Iranians will shoot. We look at where they are shooting, and then we will hit them when they reveal themselves,” he said.

Bessent said in an interview last week that the escort would involve not only the US military, but also “the international coalition.” According to MacLean, potential participants could include developed countries such as France, where President Emmanuel Macron has said the country’s military is considering a “defensive” role in escorting ships.

What are the threats to Iran’s ships, exactly?

Just 21 kilometers wide in a very narrow area, the Strait of Hormuz has long been considered a potential area that Iran might seek to close in time of war.

If the US Navy and its allies try to escort commercial vessels past Iran, “they will 100% shoot the ships,” MacLean said.

Potential shipping threats currently in Iran’s arsenal include sea mines, ship-launched missiles, drones, fast attack boats used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and remote-controlled explosive boats, military and national security experts say.

Last week, American officials he told CBS News that Iran seems to be showing that it can lay mines in the Strait. The size of Iran’s sea mines is not publicly known, but estimates over the years have ranged from 2,000 to 6,000.

Senior Trump administration officials have said the Strait does not appear to be mined at this time. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Friday that there is currently no evidence that Iran is laying mines, and Bessent said earlier last week that a few ships were still moving through the Strait, suggesting it was impassable due to mines.

“The only thing prohibiting navigation in the Straits right now is Iran’s firing on ships,” Hegseth said on Friday. “It’s open to transit, if Iran doesn’t.”

Jones told CBS News that Iran does not have many large minesweepers — and the U.S. military says it has attacked about 30 minesweepers in the past two weeks. But Iran has hundreds of small boats that can lay several mines at a time, and destroying them would be very difficult, according to Jones.

Some experts warn that Iran could still pose a major threat to shipping. Michael Eisenstadt, director of the health and security program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says he doubts that escorting oil tankers will work.

Eisenstadt noted that it’s unclear how many Iranian missiles and drones survived the past two weeks of US and Israeli strikes, but Iran’s remaining stockpiles could be hidden deep in tunnels — meaning Iran could still target the ships. He also said that the escort mission earlier in the 1980s involved a large number of American ships, and if the one considered by the Trump administration is at the same level, it could arrest a large part of the Navy’s ships.

“All it takes is half a dozen drones to hit the ships,” Eisenstadt told CBS News, “and the tankers will say ‘forget it, thanks guys, good luck.’

The Trump administration has vowed to escort oil tankers to the Strait of Hormuz. How would that work?

Has it happened before?

This would not be the first time that the US has moved ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

In 1987, toward the end of the Iran-Iraq War, the US Navy began escorting Kuwaiti tanks through the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz to protect against Iranian mines and missiles.

“It was a big deal,” MacLean said, describing the operation involving dozens of American ships.

Sometime in 1988, the USS Samuel B. Roberts hit an Iranian mine, causing extensive damage and leading then-President Ronald Reagan to launch strikes against Iranian targets. Months later, the US shot down an Iranian passenger plane that it mistook for a military jet, killing 290 people on the ground. US report called “a tragic and tragic accident.”

That war ended with a cease-fire between Iraq and Iran.

If the U.S. decides to do another escort mission some 38 years later, MacLean said the mission could end the same way — either because of a ceasefire or because Iran gives up.

“You basically keep going until there’s some kind of tipping point,” he said.