Trump says giant empty tankers headed to US for 'world's best oil'

President Donald Trump on Saturday declared that fleets of empty supertankers were already heading to the United States to load up with American crude, using Truth Social to tout US energy dominance amid one of the most turbulent periods for global oil markets in years.

In a post on Truth Social, he said, "Massive numbers of completely empty oil tankers, some of the largest anywhere in the World, are heading, right now, to the United States," Trump wrote, adding that the US holds more oil than the next two largest oil economies combined. "We are waiting for you. Quick turnaround!"



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The post comes days after Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran on April 7, a deal conditioned on the complete reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly 20% of the world's seaborne oil passes.

The agreement followed weeks of escalating threats, including Trump's Easter Sunday warning that Iran faced strikes on its power plants and bridges if it kept the strait closed.

Despite the ceasefire, tanker traffic through the strait remains far below normal. Iran has insisted it retains authority over the waterway and has reportedly sought to charge shipping firms fees for safe passage, a demand the White House flatly rejected, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying the strait must reopen "without limitation, including tolls."

Iran has maintained throughout the ceasefire that it retains control over the waterway; the United States has insisted the strait must remain accessible without any restrictions, including tolls, a contradiction that became explicitly public for the first time at the presidential level this week.


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Trump's oil pitch comes as high-stakes peace talks between the US and Iran opened Saturday in Islamabad, Pakistan.

US Vice President JD Vance is leading the American delegation, accompanied by chief negotiator Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Iran's team is led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Pakistan, which brokered the two-week ceasefire, has set a modest goal for the talks, to find enough common ground to keep negotiations alive, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif calling it a "make-or-break moment."