The US military is conducting a stealth operation to transport oil through the Strait of Hormuz, sources with knowledge of the situation told Axios on Wednesday.
According to the report, the US has established a shipping corridor through the strait, covertly facilitating the transport of millions of barrels of oil daily.
During the course of the operation 15 to 20 tankers safely transited the strait, travelling along a southern channel across the coast of Oman, the report said, adding that the operation has been underway for several weeks.
The sources said that around 10 million barrels of oil a day are being transported out of the strait and into the global energy markets, roughly half the pre-war volume.
Trump: Strait of Hormuz is open, a lot of oil is getting out
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said "The strait is open. A lot of boats are coming through."
He added that the price of oil is decreasing again, saying "they were talking about $350 a barrel, but today it's $84-$85."
"The Hormuz Strait is not going to be quite as important as it was in the past," Trump said, explaining that "people found other alternatives [to the strait], record numbers of pipelines are being built."
"We are getting a lot of oil out."
Hormuz shipping data shows slowed traffic amid uncertainty over waterway
Ship crossings via the Strait of Hormuz rose slightly from the weekend, preliminary shipping data on Tuesday showed, despite remaining in single digits.
However, data on Wednesday showed that shipping through the strait had slowed again amid fears of ships being targeted.
Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, Kpler data showed by 0258 GMT, down from nine a day earlier and below the 10-day daily average of 11.
On Tuesday, Trump said no talks were taking place with Iran and insisted the strait was open, contradicting Iran's assertion that it remained shut to shipping.
Kpler noted that some vessels could be passing through the strait with their transponders switched off and they would not be considered in the tally.
Reuters contributed to this report.