President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday that the U.S. has been taking out oil from Iran as part of a “secret mission” to keep gas and oil prices low.

Trump first made the shock announcement in a passing comment in the Oval Office when asked about rising inflation. He later posted to Truth Social a message adding some additional context to his earlier claims.

“Last month, I directed our Great U.S. Military to execute a secret mission to support Oil Tankers and other Commercial Ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Today, I am pleased to announce that this effort has resulted in more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil making its way through the Strait, and into the Open Market,” Trump wrote on social media, adding:

More than 200 Commercial Ships have safely traveled through the Strait. This wildly successful effort is because the UNITED STATES of AMERICA CONTROLS the Strait of Hormuz — NOT Iran. Their military is defeated, and their economy is lost. It’s over for Iran! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

Trump said before his post in the Oval that the U.S. military had been taking “millions of barrels of oil” away from Iran every night.

“I’m going to tell you because they just figured it out. So now that they figured it out, I can tell you it was very hard for me. I wanted to say it so badly,” he claimed, adding, “When it’s over, you will see oil drop to where it was before.”

The Strait of Hormuz has been essentially closed to commercial traffic in recent months as the war has gone on, with Iran both mining the strait and firing upon commercial vessels.

The New York Times reported last week, however, that the Pentagon had been secretly guiding ships through the key energy transit hub.

“U.S. Central Command has guided around 70 commercial ships through the strait, traveling into and out of the Persian Gulf, in the last three weeks, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. The U.S. officials added that most of the vessels had turned off their transponders to avoid detection when going through the narrow waterway,” reported the Times.

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