New U.S. intelligence reports indicate that Iran is taking steps to deploy mines in Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.
Iran is using smaller crafts that can carry 2 to 3 mines each. Although Iran’s mine stock isn’t publicly known, estimates over the years have ranged from roughly 2,000 to 6,000 naval mines of Iranian, Chinese and Russian-made variants, reports CBS.
In response to the US and Israeli attacks, Iran has shut down the instrumental shipping route, attacking at least 10 ships that were seeking to cross it in the early days of the war. Nearly 3,000 ships usually sail through the strait each month.
The price of oil has climed to above $100 a barrel globally as a result of the United States-Israeli war on Iran. Prices have since dipped Tuesday but still remain relatively high.
Late Monday, President Trump threatened Tehran with “death, fire and fury” if it attempted to stop the flow of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran, in return, threatened to assassinate him.
Ali Larijani, a top Iranian security official, wrote a message on X Tuesday following president Trump’s threat to attack Iran “TWENTY TIMES HARDER” if Tehran stopped oil flowing through the major shipping corridor.
Larijani wrote: “The sacrificial nation of Iran doesn’t fear your empty threats. Even those bigger than you couldn’t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.”
The president and his administration’s officals have been giving mixed signals to the American public as to when the war will actually end.
Over the weekend Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told 60 Minutes that the war was “only just the beginning” with the Department of Defense posting Monday afternoon that the fight was just beginning.
Meanwhile, around the same time Monday, Trump told CBS that the war was essentialy complete, adding later that the war would be a “short term excursion.”
An estimate the Pentagon sent to Congress says U.S. spent $ 5 billion on munitions for the first two days of Iran war, The Associated Press reports.