Is Trump Lying About ‘Total Control’ In Hormuz? Fox News And MS NOW Agree On One Thing

President Donald Trump raised eyebrows across the political spectrum this week when he declared multiple times that the U.S. has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz. While many were quick to dismiss the claim as an obvious lie, the news media’s coverage of the statement was a different story.

While the spin varied in the pro-Trump and anti-Trump media, Fox News and MS NOW both reported that the strait remains contested and oil tanker traffic remains way down.

Bret Baier offered Fox News’s most direct rebuttal to Trump’s statement on Wednesday night. Standing in front of a map showing tanker movement through the strait, Baier reported, “Total oil flow averaged nearly 21 million barrels per day in the first half of last year, equivalent to about 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption. Usually, about one-fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas trade moves through there as well. Despite President Trump claiming total control over the strait, traffic has slowed, really, to a trickle if you look at this.”

“Before the conflict, more than 100 vessels a day were crossing. Monday, eight vessels crossed. Yesterday, 14,” added Fox’s chief political anchor before diving into how the energy markets are continuing to adjust to the restricted oil flow by raising their prices.

Over on MS NOW, Jen Psaki delivered a scathing takedown of Trump’s claim and went so far as to flat out say the Iranian government is now a more trustworthy source on the state of the war than is the President of the United States.

“Donald Trump is repeatedly having to confront tough, embarrassing, and I’m sure, exhaustingly stubborn realities as his war of choice drags on. His war against the truth continued online this morning when, at 10:31 a.m., he posted this online,” Psaki began before reading Trump’s post claiming “total control.”

“We neither control the Strait of Hormuz, nor are we in any kind of position to keep it. That’s the reality. Iran is not decimated, nor are they fleeing,” she continued, adding:

Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority responded in a statement, of course, saying, quote: “Claims and repeated posts by U.S. officials that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer blocked do not change the reality; the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran’s conditions are accepted.”

And our best reporting shows, if you want to know the truth about what’s going on in the Strait of Hormuz, you’re better off listening in this moment we’re living in to Iran than the American president right now. Let me say that again: Iran, the purveyor of disinformation often throughout recent modern history, is better at telling the truth right now than the American president.

Psaki, like Baier, then went on to discuss reporting about the decrease in ship traffic through the Strait, noting, “Vessel transit sat at a five-day average of around 13 on Tuesday, nearly the lowest level since May 12th, according to a CNBC analysis of data provided by the trade intelligence firm Kepler.”

“Traffic is 90% lower than before the war started. Does that sound like — to quote Donald Trump again — ‘The USA has total control over the Strait of Hormuz?’” she concluded.

Elsewhere on MS NOW, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass, made clear on Morning Joe the reality in the strait was not as Trump said. “No one is in total control of the Strait of Hormuz, and it’s easier to deny use of the Strait of Hormuz than it is to guarantee use. So we can deny use,” Haass explained, adding, “Iran can deny use to others. Insurers will not insure cargo ships or tankers. So denial is relatively easy, guaranteeing use relatively hard. That’s where the strait is: very little traffic going through, much less than went through before the war.”

On Thursday, Fox anchor Bill Hemmer brought on Rich Goldberg, senior advisor for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who tried to make a more favorable case for Trump, arguing that control over the strait is diminishing in importance.

Hemmer asked Goldberg about his recent New York Post piece, saying, “You write in the Post, ‘Iran is losing its grip on Hormuz, and with it, all its leverage.’ I’ll give you a chance — go ahead and make your case for the point you’re making there.”

After a breakdown of Iran’s diminished military assets, Goldberg gets to the thrust of his argument:

They don’t have extortion power over the world — no nuclear weapons, no missile breakout. We see the Emiratis, the Saudis building new pipeline infrastructure, U.S. exports at an all-time high. Pretty soon the world will say we don’t need Hormuz anymore. Right now we need the military to keep escorting oil out while this build is going on in parallel. But pretty soon it’s not just a victory over Iran — it’s going to be a victory for the United States for the century, as America becomes more and more energy dominant.

Hemmer then presses Goldberg on Trump administration claims that oil is getting through the strait even if official tanker traffic has dropped. Goldberg argued that vessels are turning off their transponders so Iran won’t see them transiting the strait and that the U.S. military is continuing to escort vessels out.

“So we are getting oil out of the strait, plus the pipelines, plus U.S. exports. This is going our way right now. It’s not over — the Iranians could respond, they could escalate — but right now, this is looking pretty good for the president,” claimed Goldberg, offering a rosy take on Trump’s claims, but not refuting the fact that the Strait remains contested.

“You make the case. And many others have made it, that the strait will become irrelevant. That’s quite an argument. If you’re right, how long before that happens? Is it a year, is it two years, or is it more?” Hemmer followed up.

“My guess, on average, would be about two years, but I’ll be surprised if we can’t maybe do it even sooner,” Goldberg replied.

While Trump’s claim of “total control” was discussed dozens of other times on both Fox News and MS NOW, with MS guests often launching scorched earth attacks on Trump and Fox hosts often repeating the claim unchallenged, on the whole, both networks agree on one thing: the strait remains contested and its future uncertain.

Watch the clips above via Fox News and MS NOW.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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