Trump says the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz has returned to pre-war levels with Iran

🔸The U.S. president, on Thursday, Shahrivar 12, in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, wrote that the volume of oil transiting the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its level prior to the war with Iran.

🔸By sharing graphic images of the Strait of Hormuz and oil barrels, Donald Trump wrote that before the war, 20 million barrels of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz per day, and that this figure is now 18 million barrels.

🔸Since the start of the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran on Bahman 9, the Strait of Hormuz has become a new arena of confrontation between Tehran and Washington. While the Islamic Republic of Iran says it has blocked the strait, Mr. Trump has repeatedly emphasized that the strait is fully under U.S. control and that oil exports are flowing through it.

🔸In another post, the U.S. president, by sharing a report from the newspaper “The Washington Post,” wrote that Syria is trying to position itself as an alternative option to the Strait of Hormuz.

🔸In its report, The Washington Post wrote that Syria is becoming a new regional transit hub because disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz have pushed Gulf oil exporters to look for alternative routes toward the Mediterranean.

🔸The newspaper added that currently, about five thousand oil-carrying trucks are traveling daily from southern Iraq to the Syrian port of Baniyas.

🔸According to The Washington Post, “a U.S.-backed plan led by Chevron proposes building a pipeline worth $5.7 billion, which would have the capacity to transfer up to two million barrels of crude oil per day from Basra to Baniyas. A final agreement, with the participation of Chevron, TotalEnergies, and Syrian and Qatari investors, is expected to be signed in September.”

🔸Based on this report, Syria is also holding discussions about possible pipeline connections with Qatar and other producers in the Gulf region, and rail projects with Turkey and Saudi Arabia are also under review so that the country becomes even more of a corridor connecting the Persian Gulf, Europe, and the Mediterranean.