LONDON: The US military has helped 1 billion barrels of oil leave the Arabian Gulf in the “last couple of months,” the head of American forces in the region said on Saturday. At the same time, Iran has exported “zero barrels” because of a US blockade, Adm. Brad Cooper said in a video update on the Strait of Hormuz, through which tankers carrying the oil has to pass.After the war with the US started nearly seven months ago, Iranian threats and attacks on shipping in the waterway dramatically reduced the number of tankers passing through the strait. But the US military has worked to establish a corridor for tankers through the southern part of the waterway, gradually increasing the amount of oil exports from Gulf countries. Cooper said American forces had assisted more than 2,000 commercial ship transits through the strait by providing “coordinated protection.” The volume of crude oil, natural gas and cargo through the strait in the past two weeks is the highest it has been in six months, he said. Cooper said the US military remained “clear-eyed and laser-focused” on increasing the volume of traffic flow through the strait by working with all six GCC countries, along with insurers and shipping countries. Before the conflict started, about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed through the Strait of Hormuz, including about 15 million barrels per day of crude oil. Despite the increase in tanker traffic, Iran has continued to target ships attempting to pass through the strait. Iran said it attacked a Togo-flagged oil tanker on Thursday night while another was struck on Wednesday, maritime incident monitors said. Cooper said that the US had cleared all the Iranian mines from the strait's primary transit lanes as part of US efforts to make the waterway safe.