US industry executives have repeatedly requested military escorts in the Middle East region from the US Navy but have been denied, according to a report by CNN.

The US has significantly underestimated Iran's readiness to close the Strait of Hormuz, and the current administration "did not plan for the possibility of Iran closing the strait in response to strikes," the report said, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter. 

In regular briefings for industry participants in the region, US military officials have recurrently made clear they have not received orders to begin any escort operation, and the risks to US assets remained extremely high, CNN said, quoting two executives with knowledge of the matter.

According to the report, the US national security team has underestimated the potential consequences of "what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration." 

A former US official who served in Republican and Democratic administrations told CNN that planning around the current scenario "has been a bedrock principle of US national security policy for decades," but the situation left the official "dumbfounded."