U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the operation by the American military to escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz had continued in “stealth mode” after it was announced in May.

According to him, the United States maintains control over navigation, which has made it possible to move up to 500 million barrels of oil through the strategic route despite Iranian shelling.

The U.S. military has been “controlling vessel traffic” in the strait “for quite some time,” Hegseth claims. At the same time, according to public data from tracking services, shipping activity has sharply declined amid exchanges of strikes between the U.S. and Iran over the past 10 days, which triggered a spike in global oil prices.

“During the implementation of Operation Project Freedom, we moved, right under Iran’s nose, by my estimate, between 400 and 500 million barrels of oil,” Hegseth said at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, referring to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) initiative to escort commercial vessels.

Hegseth acknowledged that Iran still retains the technical capability to fire on commercial vessels in the waters.

“Iran does not charge a transit fee — they are simply shooting at ships right now,” the Pentagon chief noted in response to a question from Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington state.