Inside the US Operation to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Ship by Ship

This apparent contradiction reflects the messy reality on the water: the blockade is officially over, but the US military retains the authority and posture to intercept ships it assesses as threatening or non-compliant, even after the May 29 announcement.

Operation Project Freedom: The Quiet Unblocking

On May 4, 2026, the US launched Operation Project Freedom, its overt effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after Iran effectively shut it down and caused a greater than 90% collapse in shipping traffic . But the operation did not unfold as initially described.

Originally, President Trump announced a plan to escort commercial ships through the strait, an approach that would have been a direct, public challenge to Iran. That plan was abandoned . Instead, CENTCOM is using a quieter, less public method: ship-by-ship coordination with willing commercial operators, rather than high-profile naval escorts .

Two shippers confirmed they were in contact with the US military for navigation advice . Over the three weeks before June 1, CENTCOM guided approximately 70 ships in and out of the Persian Gulf using a dedicated channel kept away from the Iranian coastline, according to sources who spoke to The New York Times . Most of those ships turned off their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) — the navigational beacons that broadcast a vessel’s position — to avoid detection by Iran, meaning they relied entirely on guidance from Central Command .

CENTCOM has insisted it is not providing armed escorts for the transits . Instead, the military is coaching shipping personnel on safe navigation through the strait, an effort the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain has acknowledged publicly .

What About Helicopter Guidance from Oman?

One specific claim in circulation — that US helicopters are guiding commercial ships from Oman — is not supported by the available evidence. CENTCOM has released imagery of MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopters conducting maritime raid force operations, with Marines rappelling onto vessels as part of blockade enforcement . US Apache and MH-60 helicopters also sank six Iranian fast boats near the strait during operations in early May . But no source in the current evidence set describes a helicopter-based guidance program originating from Oman. Until further evidence emerges, this claim should be treated as unconfirmed.

The Redirection Campaign by the Numbers

The scale of the US vessel redirection operation has been substantial:

• May 27, 2026: The US military had redirected 109 commercial vessels in the Arabian Sea to enforce the blockade .
• June 1, 2026: The number rose to 121 ships redirected and five disabled, according to CENTCOM .

These redirections targeted ships bound for or departing from Iranian ports, and the operation included disabling the engines of vessels that attempted to breach the blockade. CENTCOM released footage of one such incident, with a US sailor heard telling a vessel to turn around .

The Slow, Uneven Traffic Recovery

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has rebounded from its wartime depths, but remains far below normal — and the recovery is proving slow and uneven.

Pre-war baseline: The strait normally handled 100–120 vessel transits per day, with some estimates as high as 153 . Wartime low: Weekly traffic collapsed to just 19 vessels during the peak of the crisis . Mid-May 2026: Weekly vessel traffic climbed to 55, a sharp rise but still a fraction of normal . Early June 2026: Traffic remained limited and inconsistent.

Bloomberg reported observing just two inbound commercial transits on the morning of June 2, following two outbound ships the day before . Energy Aspects, using proprietary geospatial intelligence, noted that fewer than 50 laden non-Iranian tankers had transited the strait throughout the entire month of May .

"While a number of individual transits have generated headlines suggesting a recovery in flows, the aggregate picture tells a different story," Energy Aspects wrote in a June 2 analysis . Outbound flows of non-Iranian oil have averaged only a small fraction of pre-war levels, and the disruption is now officially the largest oil and LNG supply shock in history .

Iran has committed to restoring transit to roughly 100 ships per day within one month, a move that would return the strait to pre-war volumes . But market analysts caution that concrete conditions must be met before the strait can be considered commercially reopened. S&P Global Energy has identified five conditions, the first being a meaningful recovery in vessel traffic — specifically, traffic must return to 50% to 90% of pre-war levels and remain stable for one to four weeks . That has not happened yet.

Analysts from Kpler project a phased recovery from May to September, depending on vessel type . For now, the strait remains in what Kpler describes as a "restricted and controlled phase" — Iran still has significant control over transit, and full free passage has not been restored .