After a series of stops and starts in recent days, the White House confirmed on Sunday that oil tankers are once again passing through the Strait of Hormuz as a tenuous deal remains underway to bring an end to the military operation in Iran.
As The Hill reported, the latest update came from Energy Secretary Chris Wright:
The Trump administration official said 67 ships went through the strait on Saturday, a slight increase from 55 on Friday as the U.S. military escorts vessels through a southern route in the channel.
“I think it’s that returning flows back towards normal without any cooperation at all from Iran, that’s the leverage President Trump used to get the Iranians to come to the table and realize they’re going to lose all the cards in their hand,” Wright said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” with Jonathan Karl. “Maybe they can make a deal that brings some benefit to Iran. Maybe they can’t.”
A day earlier, Vice President Vance told Fox News there was no evidence that Iran had blocked off the Strait of Hormuz, touting what he described as a record-breaking amount of oil moving through the critical shipping corridor over the previous 24 hours.
Vance is in Switzerland on Sunday for talks with Iranian officials — mediated by Pakistan and Qatar — over Iran’s nuclear program, days after the signed U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding started a 60-day clock for the countries to reach a final agreement.
News of the latest advancement fueled a mix of social media optimism and skepticism:
Hopefully most of it ended up at refineries US area producing diesel and jet fuel.
— Gaseous (@Gaseoustb1331) June 21, 2026
Normal traffic is 100 to 125 ships a day leaving. So his math is wrong.
— Kevin (@TheBondGuy2) June 21, 2026
It also came on the heels of Trump’s tough talk about Iran’s provocations:
🚨 HOLY CRAP! President Trump issued a DIRECT THREAT to Iranian negotiators in Switzerland
“You close [the Strait] and you won’t have a country. You won’t even make it BACK to your f**king country.” pic.twitter.com/e8XLnFpOm9
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 21, 2026
Here’s what Iran had to say on the matter over the weekend, per the Washington Examiner:
Iran said it’s shutting down the Strait of Hormuz just three days after it reopened, citing Israel’s strikes in Lebanon amid a fragile ceasefire agreement.
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said Saturday that because the U.S. has failed to rein in Israel’s attacks elsewhere in the region, the temporary peace deal had been violated.
“In view of the United States’ bad faith and its clear breach of its commitments by failing to implement the first article of the memorandum ending the war, and in response to the continuous and ongoing violation of the ceasefire by the Zionist regime in southern Lebanon, it hereby announces that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to the passage of vessels,” the military command said in a statement reported by state broadcaster IRIB.
Israeli strikes hit Lebanon, killing over a dozen people, just hours after a U.S.-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah went into effect.
Meanwhile, gas prices are declining nationwide in anticipation of traffic returning to normal:
What are your thoughts?
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
