National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett speaks to the press outside the West Wing of the White House on February 11, 2026 in Washington, DC. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the United States added 130,000 jobs in January.
Anna Moneymaker getty images
Kevin Hassett, President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, said Thursday that getting even a single oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz would provide “a big chunk of what’s missing” amid a global supply crisis caused by the US-Israel war in Iran.
Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, made the claim as traffic through the key shipping route remains tightly restricted despite the US and Iran reaching a fragile ceasefire that apparently includes reopening the strait.
According to Kpler data, more than 100 commercial ships, mostly oil tankers, were passing through the strait every day before the war began on 28 February.
Matt Smith, chief oil analyst at Kpler, said only two tankers – one of which was Iranian – and a handful of bulk carriers have passed through the waterway since the two-week ceasefire was announced on Tuesday evening.
This is well within the short range of traffic seen throughout the war, providing Iran with a major source of leverage even as it faces punishing military attacks from the US and Israel.
The blockage of the strait, which normally carries 20% of the world’s oil, sent global energy prices soaring. Oil prices fell sharply after news of the ceasefire, but rose again above $100 a barrel on Thursday.
“We have an agreement with the Iranians that they are going to open the Strait of Hormuz, and we will have a ceasefire,” Hassett said in a Fox Business interview Thursday morning.
“They’ve said they’re going to start allowing a lot more ships to pass through,” Hassett said of Iran.
“As the day goes on, we’ll see whether that’s true or not, bearing in mind the fact that if you take one of those big tankers, that’s 2 million barrels. So that’s a big chunk of what’s missing,” he said.
before the war, about 20 million barrels Oil was crossing the strait every day. And since the war began on Feb. 28, millions of barrels have been pulled from the market due to the inability to ship oil out of the Persian Gulf, said Amina Bakr, Middle East and OPEC expert at Kpler.
“Ultimately, I think we won’t have complete clarity until the talks begin this weekend in Islamabad, Pakistan,” Hassett said.
He said, “We sincerely hope that we have so much on the table that we are ready to help the Iranian people, if they act normally, so hopefully there will be cool heads and cool heads on the Iranian side and a final agreement will be reached at the end of this week.”
Hassett’s comments came a day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “What has been agreed upon, what has been said is that the strait is open.”
White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said later Wednesday that the US had “seen an increase in traffic in the strait today.”
“I would reiterate the President’s expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz be reopened immediately, quickly and safely amid a ceasefire,” Leavitt said. He denied Iranian state reports that oil tanker traffic was halted following Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Trump announced a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday evening, shortly before his deadline for Iran to either reach a deal or face the destruction of its “entire civilization.”
The temporary ceasefire is “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the full, immediate and secure opening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
But experts and maritime industry leaders say strait traffic has not picked up since the ceasefire took effect.
“Let’s be clear: The Strait of Hormuz is not open. Access is being restricted, conditioned and controlled,” Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday morning.
Al Jaber said ships passing through the strait would have to seek permission from Iran, which is reportedly planning to impose new tolls on transit vessels.
“This is not freedom of navigation. This is coercion,” he said.
Iran on Wednesday accused the US of violating the ceasefire by violating parts of Tehran’s 10-point proposal for a temporary pause in hostilities.