US Conducted Covert Four-Month Mission to Clear Mines From Strait of Hormuz: FT

For four months, US forces quietly searched for and cleared naval mines from the Strait of Hormuz, using Navy SEAL divers, robotic boats and specialized underwater vehicles, the Financial Times reported. The operation was conducted largely at night, with small diving teams moving from inflatable boats while unmanned surface vessels and submersibles scanned the seabed with high-resolution sonar.

When the teams found mines, divers attached charges to destroy them. Robotic submersibles could also carry out detonations. No US casualties were reported in connection with the mission.

The operation began after Iran said it had laid mines in international and Omani waters following the start of US-Israeli strikes in February. Shipping executives and security advisers told the Financial Times they believed the southern part of the strait near Oman had been cleared. US forces have been directing vessels through that area, but uncertainty remained over whether the entire waterway was free of mines.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Aug. 31 that a supertanker caught fire and stopped after hitting two naval mines while trying to use what Tehran called an unauthorized route south of the strait. Maritime authorities, however, reported no confirmed mine strikes during the conflict. Analysts cited by the Financial Times said satellite imagery showed no clear evidence that mines had been laid. The only confirmed mine sighting reportedly came from a Pakistani survey vessel in May.

The United States has warned that it will attack vessels trying to deploy additional mines in the waterway. Washington also said it struck Iranian rocket launchers on Aug. 30 as they prepared to fire mines into the strait.

Mine clearance alone may not restore normal commercial traffic. The report said Iran’s missile and drone attacks on shipping, along with the possibility of new mines, would leave shipowners to decide whether the US-protected route near Oman was safe enough for operations to resume.