US hunts explosive mines to reopen Strait Of Hormuz
President Donald Trump says the US Navy is clearing Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, a vital sea route for oil shipments whose disruption is increasingly threatening the global economy.
Sweeping for underwater explosives could take months despite a tenuous ceasefire between the United States and Iran in the weekslong war, experts say.
Any future claims that the US cleared the waterway where 20 per cent of the world’s oil typically passes might fail to convince commercial freighters and their insurers that it is finally safe.
“You don’t even have to have laid mines - you just have to make people believe that you’ve laid mines,” said Emma Salisbury, a scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s National Security Program.
“And even if the US sweeps the strait and says everything’s clear, all the Iranians have to do is say, Well, actually, you haven’t found them all yet,’” said Salisbury, who is also a fellow at the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre. “There’s only so much the US can do to give that confidence back to commercial shipping.”
Seeking out mines is one of the latest tactics announced by the Trump administration to get traffic moving again through the strait, as rising energy prices and wider economic effects pose a political risk. The US has also blockaded Iran’s ports, seized ships tied to Tehran and planned to take part in a second round of ceasefire talks in Pakistan this weekend.
Hegseth doesn’t deny that mine-clearing could take 6 months.
Pentagon officials told lawmakers it would likely take six months to clear the mines that Iran has set in the strait, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive information. The information was delivered during a classified briefing at the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
When asked about the estimate, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Friday that the military would not speculate on a timeline, but he did not deny it.
“Allegedly, that was something that was said,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon news conference. “But we feel confident in our ability, in the correct period of time, to clear any mines that we identify.” Trump said he has ordered the Navy to attack any boat laying mines in the strait. “Additionally, our mine sweepers are clearing the Strait right now,” the president said on social media Thursday. “I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled-up level!”
Adm. Brad Cooper, the top US commander in the Middle East, recently told reporters that the military would be working to clear mines from the strait. He did not offer details. There is no indication that the US military is using warships, its most visible mine-clearing assets, in the strait now. But the Navy also has divers and small teams of explosive ordnance disposal technicians in the region that are capable of clearing mines. They are a less obvious target than a large warship.
Experts also say some mine-clearing equipment could be moved off ships and deployed from land. It is unclear whether a single mine has been deployed. Iran has mentioned only the “likelihood” of mines in the strait’s prewar routes.
Estimates of Iran’s mine stockpiles are in the low thousands, said Salisbury, of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Most of its underwater explosives are believed to be older Soviet models. Some of its newer ones may be from China or made domestically.
