A month after President Donald Trump announced — and then abandoned — a plan to escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the US military is trying less public ways of protecting vessels in the vital waterway.
Rather than announcing an open challenge against Iran, the US is quietly coordinating with shippers willing to take a different approach. Evidence gleaned from US Central Command statements, shipping data and people with knowledge of the transits suggest ships are turning off transponders and sticking close to the Omani coast on the strait’s south to avoid Iranian mines, with the US military assisting if needed.
