US Vice President JD Vance declared at a White House press conference that American hostilities with Iran do not constitute a war, arguing that maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has almost returned to normal.
His statements come as American public opinion grows increasingly dissatisfied with the conflict ahead of critical midterm elections. Meanwhile, a report by the Wall Street Journal indicated that President Donald Trump is considering declaring a U.S. victory and announcing an end to the armed conflict.
Vance sought to downplay the recent flare-up in military actions, stating that there was no active exchange of fire taking place at present. However, the U.S. armed forces have launched two separate waves of aerial bombardments against targets inside Iran in recent days.
One of the recent American air strikes killed four people and injured dozens of others during a wedding ceremony, prompting Tehran to vow revenge. Asked about the strike, Vance expressed strong skepticism regarding reports from Iranian state media, saying they do not provide a reliable accounting of the conflict, though he noted that the U.S. is conducting an in-depth investigation into the incident.
Political context and military timeline
The 42-year-old Republican vice president declined to state when he expects hostilities to end. When Trump launched the war alongside Israel six months ago, the administration initially indicated that military operations would last a few weeks at most.
Vance, a former U.S. senator from Ohio who assumed office alongside President Trump, has frequently served as a key spokesperson for administration foreign policy. The White House, located in Washington, D.C., serves as the executive office and official residence of the U.S. president. Midterm elections in the United States occur halfway through a presidential four-year term, determining control of both houses of Congress and serving as a crucial test of public support for the sitting administration.
Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz
For several days, the U.S. administration has maintained that ship transits have increased through the Strait of Hormuz. Vance repeated those assertions, asking critics to consider how much oil and gas was moving through the passage three months ago amid Iranian threats, concluding that virtually none was flowing then compared to near pre-conflict levels today.
President Trump echoed those assertions during an interview broadcast on the British conservative television channel GB News, claiming that the U.S. exercises major control over the waterway and ensures that between 30 and 40 ships pass through every night.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated that 17 million barrels of oil recently navigated the strait, while Trump shared a chart on Truth Social indicating daily flow of 18 million barrels. That figure approaches the pre-war daily volume of 20 million barrels that regularly transited the maritime passage.
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow maritime passage connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Situated between Iran to the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirates to the south, it serves as the world's most critical oil transit chokepoint, handling roughly a fifth of global petroleum supplies. GB News is a British television news network, while Truth Social is an American social media platform launched by Trump Media and Technology Group.
Independent tracking and ghost ship data
Data analyzed by news agency Agence France-Presse from maritime tracking platform Kpler reveals a more complex picture of maritime movement. Traffic of ships carrying raw materials, including hydrocarbons, fertilizers, and minerals, dropped to an average of just 10 transits per day after Tehran closed the strait on March 1, compared to an average of 95 daily transits in February.
An agreement in principle signed between Washington and Tehran in mid-June, which in theory opened the way for talks to permanently end the war, temporarily allowed around 36 ship transits per day. However, transits declined again to about 15 per day amid a renewed flare-up in hostilities between July 8 and August 22.
Kpler data further shows that since July 8, two-thirds of all vessel transits through Hormuz have been conducted by ghost ships, compared to less than 1 percent prior to the conflict. The tracking platform defines ghost ships as vessels moving in both directions through the strait whose exact routes cannot be confirmed due to missing position data, caused by turned-off transponders, signal jamming, or a lack of satellite imagery.
Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris and one of the oldest continuous news gathering services in the world. Kpler is a global trade intelligence firm that utilizes satellite imagery, maritime Automatic Identification System tracking, and proprietary logistics data to monitor real-time flows of energy products and bulk commodities worldwide.
