Blockade on Iran withdrawn under pressure
https://x.com/HormuzReport/status/2103447387532632481
“The US Navy has completely withdrawn its warships from the blockade line around Iran after Iran’s first operational use of the advanced Qasem Basir “carrier killer” anti-ship ballistic missile”
Short answer: I cannot verify that claim as true.
What I can verify from current reporting is:
Iran has claimed that it used the Qasem Basir missile against U.S. warships. Multiple reports state that Iran said it targeted the USS George Washington and accompanying destroyers around September 5, 2026.
U.S. CENTCOM acknowledged missile attacks were attempted, but said no ships were hit or damaged. Reports quoting CENTCOM say U.S. forces successfully evaded or defeated the attacks, with no casualties and no damage.
The Qasem Basir missile exists and is reported to have a range of about 1,200 km with electro-optical/infrared terminal guidance.
However, I could not find reliable evidence supporting several key parts of the viral claim:
That the entire U.S. Navy withdrew its warships from a blockade line because of the missile.
That satellite imagery proves no carriers or destroyers have been present in the Gulf of Oman or Arabian Sea since early September.
That the blockade remains only “on paper.”
That U.S. ships were definitively moved beyond missile range as a direct consequence of the Qasem Basir attack.
In fact, one report from September 12 stated that the USS George Washington was still operating near the Strait of Hormuz with guided-missile destroyers screening the carrier, which conflicts with the idea that U.S. naval forces had completely abandoned the area.
My assessment:
The claim combines some facts with several conclusions that are not independently verified. The verified portion is that Iran reportedly launched Qasem Basir missiles at U.S. warships and the U.S. says the attacks failed. The stronger claim that the missile forced a wholesale U.S. naval withdrawal is not substantiated by the sources I found.
Verdict: Unproven / likely exaggerated. The missile attack claim is real; the claim that it forced the U.S. Navy to retreat from the region has not been independently confirmed
MEANWHILE
Saudi oil shipments jumped to the highest level since the start of the Iran war
“Overall exports stood at 5.28 million barrels a day so far in September”
More through Hormuz, less through the Red Sea
https://x.com/ZiadMDaoud/status/2103423514573197396
WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON WITH THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ?
Iran keeps screaming that they shut down the Strait of Hormuz. So why hasn’t the world run out of oil?
Because they didn’t shut it down. They got routed around.
Before the war, about 20 million barrels a day moved through that strait, a fifth of the world’s oil.
Iran declared it closed. But the oil never stopped. Even CENTCOM says 10 to 20 million barrels a day are still moving through it.
And here’s what Tehran didn’t count on. Saudi Arabia cranked its East-West pipeline from about 2 million barrels a day up to 7 million, a record, sending crude straight across to the Red Sea and skipping Iran completely.
The UAE opened its own line out to the Gulf of Oman, bypassing the strait too.
Add it up. Between what still crosses the strait and what the pipelines now route around it, the region’s oil is reaching the world at close to where it was before the war!
Iran fired its one big weapon, and the West built a detour in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile it’s Iran’s own oil sitting blockaded at the docks.
They played their ace, and the world dealt right around it!
BILL MITCHELL
When the price of crude starts tumbling with lower highs, we’ll have our “we’re saved” answer.
For now, that’s the only assessment that I take as credible.