US Military Denies Iran’s Claim of Full Control Over Strait of Hormuz

The dispute is less about the waterway's actual status than about narrative control over a chokepoint that carries a fifth of the world's seaborne crude. CENTCOM's rebuttal, issued with specific volume figures, is a deliberate effort to keep energy markets from pricing in a supply disruption that isn't occurring. The open question is whether such public denials become routine, since each one implicitly concedes that the claim was credible enough to warrant a response.