By Bo Erickson and Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States will attack Iran "very hard" if no peace deal is secured and announced the U.S. military secretly escorted ships carrying more than 100 million barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz, moderating global oil prices.
"We're going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard," Trump told reporters at the White House, saying the U.S. would strike Iran on Wednesday. He said Washington was responding to Iran's downing of an Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said later on Truth Social that he directed the U.S. military to execute a secret mission to support oil tankers and other commercial ships through the strait, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, through which 20% of the world's oil and gas flowed before the war began on February 28.
"I'm just announcing today for the first time, but we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil, millions of barrels every night," Trump told reporters earlier at the White House, adding that Iran, a major OPEC oil producer, "just figured it out."
"Millions of barrels of oil has come out, and that's why it's at $85-$90 a barrel, instead of $250," Trump said.
"We took out the other night 22 ships, late at night with no lights, because they don't have any radar because we blasted the crap out of it," Trump said, without offering other details.
ENERGY SECRETARY SAYS NONE OF THE TANKERS WERE IRANIAN
Separately, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told a congressional hearing on Wednesday that an increase of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz over the last week is the result of "using the U.S. military to increase flows of oil" in the waterway.
Wright said the vessels making it through the strait were not Iranian.
Trump said the United States is still looking to make a deal with Iran.
"We want a deal that is meaningful, we want a deal that works," Trump added about the negotiations with Iran.
Trump said that Iran has already agreed not to obtain a nuclear weapon, but the agreement still needs to be signed.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Michelle Nichols and Cynthia Osterman)
