JD Vance was boasting about the opening of the Strait of Hormuz on Fox News just as news broke that Iran had actually closed the all-important waterway.
Asked by the Fox & Friends panel if the Strait was open, Vance said that it was.
“We got 16 million barrels [of oil] out of the Strait of Hormuz in just the last 24 hours, that is basically to where it was before the war started, and so that suggests that the straits really are open,” he said.
He put forward a theory that a ship may have been prevented from entering dangerous waters, but was adamant that the waterway was open to commercial traffic.
“Now what I would believe is that if a ship is going near a minefield, either our navy or another country’s navy—there are a lot of countries other than Iran who are in the region—might say ‘no, don’t go there because there are mines there,’" he said.
He then doubled down.
“No, we’re not seeing any evidence that the Iranians are still closing down the Strait of Hormuz,” he said. “It is going to take some time to clear those mines, though.”
Around the same time, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy declared the strait closed in a statement, saying the waterway was off limits because the United States failed to prevent the Israeli military from operating in Lebanon.
“In light of the United States’ clear bad faith and breach of its commitment to implement the first clause of the memorandum of understanding for ending the war, and in response to the continuous and ongoing violations of the ceasefire by the Zionist regime in southern Lebanon, it is hereby announced that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to maritime traffic,” the IRGC said in a statement.
The Vice President and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israeli strikes on Saturday in southern Lebanon reportedly killed at least 16 people, including two children, according to Lebanese state media.
U.S. Central Command released a statement at 10.28 a.m. Saturday that said ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz had increased.
“Safe passage through the international waterway remained intact today as 55 merchant ships transited, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets,” they wrote.
President Donald Trump, 80, boasted this week that he is the “reason Israel exists” and that he tells the nation what to do.
But it appears he has been unable to dictate how Israel handles its conflict with Lebanon, with Israel allegedly breaking a ceasefire that was insisted on by Iran as part of the Memorandum of Understanding the president signed this week.
The Israeli strikes on Lebanon were reportedly retaliation for a Hezbollah attack. An Israeli military official said Hezbollah had fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight.
Hezbollah issued a statement Saturday that accused Israel of deliberately sabotaging the ceasefire.
Israeli media reported Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz had ordered a ceasefire in southern Lebanon, but would not be withdrawing from the occupied areas.
The decision was reportedly made in coordination with the United States.
Vance is planning to join U.S. negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in Switzerland on Sunday or Monday for talks with Iran over their nuclear program.
