WASHINGTON, June 11 -- The ships ran dark.

Twenty-two tankers, no navigation lights, moving through the Strait of Hormuz while Iran's radar systems had been destroyed. President Donald Trump disclosed the operation publicly on Wednesday, boasting from the Oval Office that the United States had quietly moved millions of barrels of oil through the world's most contested maritime chokepoint without Tehran knowing. "You know who doesn't know about it?" he told reporters. "Iran, until right now."

The announcement resolved months of deliberate ambiguity about what American forces were actually doing in the Strait - and created a new one. In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump said the covert effort, which he said he ordered about a month ag...