Two American officials briefed on the mission told CNN that U.S. forces executed a wartime-high escort operation on Tuesday, shepherding a convoy of 40 commercial vessels carrying a combined 18 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz during the latest round of tit-for-tat strikes between Washington and Tehran.

Prior to the outbreak of hostilities more than six months ago, roughly 20 million barrels of oil transited the strategic waterway on a daily basis.

According to the officials, the U.S. military deployed a multi-domain package incorporating air, naval, and space-based assets to accomplish two simultaneous objectives: degrading Iran's capacity to threaten commercial shipping within the strait, and repelling multiple drone attacks while escorting vessels laden with millions of barrels of crude. A senior official added that several anti-ship cruise missiles were also intercepted and destroyed during the high-risk passage.

The two officials disclosed that Tuesday's operations, executed under current strategic guidelines, involved multi-dimensional strikes against nearly 60 military targets surrounding the strait. These targets included air defense positions, radar installations, maritime infrastructure, mine-laying capabilities, and communication nodes, all neutralized while the escort mission was concurrently underway.