An American official told NBC Thursday morning that shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continues and has not been halted. The statement comes amid conflicting claims between the U.S. and Iran over the status of the strategic waterway, following the IRGC's declaration that the strait was closed.
An American official told NBC News on Thursday morning that shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continues and has not been halted. The statement comes as the latest entry in a rapid back-and-forth over the status of the waterway: since 01:44, The Zioneer has tracked multiple competing declarations — Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya command and the IRGC Navy both declared the strait closed, with the IRGC warning it would treat any approaching vessel as an enemy. The U.S. official's claim that traffic is moving is the first American assertion from an official source in this morning's cycle, though it remains a single unnamed account, and the White House and Pentagon have not yet issued on-record statements today.
As The Zioneer has reported across the thread, the situation has see-sawed rapidly. At 01:44, Iranian state media reported that Tehran had closed the strait in retaliation for overnight U.S. strikes; within the same minute, the IRGC declared it closed, CENTCOM dismissed that as a bluff, and CENTCOM itself then separately asserted the strait remained open, claiming hundreds of ships had transited via safe pathways. The early claims that the strait was fully closed were based on Iranian state and semi-official sources; the U.S. assertions have come from CENTCOM statements and an unnamed NBC source. Defense Secretary Hegseth said on Wednesday that a maritime transit project through the strait 'never stopped' and was operating 'subsurface,' as The Zioneer reported at 23:51 on June 10. Iran's foreign ministry warned on June 11 at 23:48 that the strait remains closed due to 'illegal U.S. actions' and that safe passage is not possible.
The current exchange is set against a backdrop of sustained kinetic friction in the Persian Gulf. As The Zioneer has reported since June 10, Iranian media have claimed repeated cruise missile and drone launches targeting U.S. warships in the strait, while CENTCOM has conducted airstrikes on Iran's southern coast. No independent confirmation of hits or damage to naval vessels has been published.
What remains open: the U.S. official's claim is single-source and unnamed, with no on-record corroboration from the White House or Pentagon as of 09:09. The Iranian side continues to assert the strait is closed and has reported missile fire toward U.S. warships, but those reports remain unverified. No independent third-party confirmation of the actual status of shipping traffic — whether vessels are transiting freely, facing delays, or being turned back — has been published.
19 developments
- StrongCENTCOM: Commercial shipping continues transiting the Strait of Hormuz overnight
- ConfirmedUS military maintains blockade on Iranian ports until Friday deal signing; Strait of Hormuz remains closed
- DevelopingHegseth says project to transit Hormuz never stopped, just went subsurface
- StrongUS official expects significant increase in Strait of Hormuz traffic within two weeks
Source and signal
- Internal intake