{"id":606075,"date":"2026-04-25T18:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T18:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/606075\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T18:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T18:35:10","slug":"us-says-its-clearing-iranian-mines-in-effort-to-open-the-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/606075\/","title":{"rendered":"US says it’s clearing Iranian mines in effort to open the Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> says the U.S. Navy is clearing Iranian mines<\/a> from the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, a vital sea route<\/a> for oil shipments whose disruption is increasingly threatening the global economy. <\/p>\n

Sweeping for underwater explosives could take months despite a tenuous ceasefire<\/a> between the United States and Iran in the weekslong war<\/a>, experts say. Any future claims that the U.S. cleared the waterway where 20% of the world\u2019s oil<\/a> typically passes might fail to convince commercial freighters and their insurers that it is finally safe. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t even have to have lain mines \u2014 you just have to make people believe that you\u2019ve laid mines,\u201d said Emma Salisbury, a scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute\u2019s National Security Program. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd even if the U.S. sweeps the strait and says everything\u2019s clear, all the Iranians have to do is say, \u2018Well, actually, you haven\u2019t found them all yet,\u2019\u201d said Salisbury, who is also a fellow at the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre. \u201cThere\u2019s only so much the U.S. can do to give that confidence back to commercial shipping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeking out mines is one of the latest tactics announced by the Trump administration to get traffic moving again<\/a> through the strait as rising energy prices and wider economic effects pose a political risk<\/a>. The U.S. also has blockaded Iran\u2019s ports<\/a> and seized ships tied to Tehran<\/a>, but the president said Saturday he had instructed his envoys not to travel to Pakistan for the latest ceasefire talks<\/a> after Iran\u2019s top diplomat left Islamabad.<\/p>\n

Hegseth doesn\u2019t deny that mine-clearing could take 6 months<\/p>\n

Pentagon officials told lawmakers it would likely take six months to clear the mines that Iran has set in the strait, according 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.<\/p>\n

When asked about the estimate, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Friday<\/a> that the military would not speculate on a timeline, but he did not deny it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllegedly that was something that was said,\u201d Hegseth said at a Pentagon news conference. \u201cBut we feel confident in our ability, in the correct period of time, to clear any mines that we identify.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump said he has ordered the Navy to attack any boat laying mines in the strait.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, our mine \u2018sweepers\u2019 are clearing the Strait right now,\u201d the president said on social media Thursday. \u201cI am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!\u201d<\/p>\n

Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. 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.<\/p>\n

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There is no indication that the U.S. military is using warships<\/a>, its most visible mine-clearing assets, in the strait now.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Experts also say some mine-clearing equipment could be moved off ships and deployed from land.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easier for Iran to lay mines than it is to find them, expert says<\/p>\n

It is unclear whether a single mine has been deployed. Iran has mentioned only the \u201clikelihood\u201d of mines in the strait\u2019s prewar routes. <\/p>\n

Estimates of Iran\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinelaying is a lot easier than minesweeping, so you can literally push these things off the back of a speedboat,\u201d Salisbury said, though she noted the U.S. could likely see that.<\/p>\n

Iran also has small submarines that can lay mines and are much harder to detect, Salisbury added. She said she has not seen indications that they have been destroyed in the war<\/a>. <\/p>\n

If Iran has set mines in the strait, they are not the spiky balls floating on the surface seen in the movies, Salisbury said. The explosives are likely sitting on the seabed or moored to it by a cable and floating under the surface. They can be triggered by the water pressure changing when a ship passes or by the sound of its engine.<\/p>\n

How the US can sweep for mines in the strait<\/p>\n

The U.S. Navy now has two littoral combat ships in the Middle East that are capable of sweeping for mines, said a defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military movements. <\/p>\n

Two U.S. Avenger-class minesweepers based in Japan also have departed for the Middle East but were in the Pacific Ocean as of Friday, the official said. <\/p>\n

Steven Wills, a retired lieutenant commander who served on an Avenger-class ship, said the Navy is likely looking for sea explosives in order to create a safe channel through the strait. Minesweeping is a slower process that usually occurs after a conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinehunting is walking through your yard pulling individual weeds and dandelions so that you can walk safely from one side to the other. Minesweeping is more like mowing the grass,\u201d said Wills, an expert at the Center for Maritime Strategy at the Navy League of the United States. <\/p>\n

Scott Savitz, a researcher with the RAND Corp. who focuses on naval operations and mine clearing, said the Navy does not necessarily have to remove every last mine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still areas that have not been cleared from World War II \u2014 and in some cases, World War I \u2014 just because it is so resource intensive and it takes a lot of time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Teams on the Navy\u2019s littoral combat ships can deploy remotely operated, uncrewed vehicles that use sonar and other technology to find mines, Wills said. They also carry charges to destroy the explosives. <\/p>\n

U.S. Navy ships may also have explosive ordnance disposal teams, including divers, that can hunt for and destroy mines, Wills said. Helicopters can search for mines using lasers. <\/p>\n

Shipping companies are weighing the risks<\/p>\n

Eventually, shipping companies will be willing to take some risks to travel through the strait \u201cparticularly given how lucrative it is,\u201d Savitz said.<\/p>\n

Under Iran\u2019s approval procedure for vessels wanting to transit the strait, ships must take a different route than before the war \u2014 to the north, near Iran\u2019s coastline.<\/p>\n

Insurers are adding a clause that requires ship owners to contact Iranian authorities to ensure safe passage, said Dylan Mortimer, U.K. marine war leader for insurance broker Marsh.<\/p>\n

That certification does not mention mines specifically and is intended to protect against the entire spectrum of threats, including missile and drone attacks or seizures<\/a>, Mortimer said. <\/p>\n

But mines do, at the very least, play a psychological role, a phenomenon Mortimer called the \u201cspecter of threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat plays in the Iranians\u2019 favor, because whether there are mines there or not, people think there\u2019s mines there and they will operate accordingly,\u201d Mortimer said.<\/p>\n

Those fears could mean it takes longer to restore confidence that the strait is safe even after the war. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

McHugh reported from Frankfurt, Germany. AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump says the U.S. Navy is clearing Iranian mines from the Strait of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,1927,121170,12,263475,263476,793,7590,801,1570,228242,1576,3,9458,1572,263473,263474,210369,73375,12955,21,792,19,22,20,25,24,964,800,1681,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-606075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-brad-cooper","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-dylan-mortimer","13":"tag-emma-salisbury","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-international-agreements","16":"tag-iran","17":"tag-iran-government","18":"tag-iran-war","19":"tag-military-and-defense","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-oceans","22":"tag-pete-hegseth","23":"tag-scott-savitz","24":"tag-steven-wills","25":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","26":"tag-u-s-navy","27":"tag-u-s-department-of-defense","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-united-states-government","30":"tag-united-states-of-america","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","33":"tag-us","34":"tag-usa","35":"tag-war-and-unrest","36":"tag-washington-news","37":"tag-waterways","38":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}