The United States Navy has begun operations in preparation for clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said on Saturday.
As American and Iranian negotiators hold talks in Pakistan, two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers, the USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy, have begun operations in the Arabian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz to set conditions to clear sea mines dropped in the critical supply chain waterway by the Islamist regime in Tehran at the outset of the conflict with the U.S. and Israel.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said that additional forces will be deployed to the Strait in the coming days, including underwater drones.
CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement: “Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage, and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce.”
The Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, is one of the world’s most critical oil and gas chokepoints, with around one-fifth of global energy supplies passing through it.
Opening the Strait was a key condition laid out by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week in exchange for a ceasefire. However, according to reports on Friday, the American government does not believe that the remnants of the regime in Tehran are entirely sure about the location of all the mines its forces dropped.
The New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials, reported that said that members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) “haphazardly” dropped mines with small boats in the Strait in the immediate aftermath of the initial strikes on the country by Israel and the United States.
The paper reported that it is unknown whether Iran actually recorded all locations of mines dropped in the waterway, or whether they were deployed in a manner that allowed them to drift.
This will likely make clearing the Strait more difficult. The mission has already been made more difficult by the fact that the United Kingdom, which the United States has long relied upon to provide minesweeping boats, retired its fleet earlier this year before its next generation of sweepers were ready to come online, in an apparent “capability gapping” effort to cut costs on the British defence budget.
Commenting on the state of the war on Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “The Fake News Media is CRAZY, or just plain CORRUPT! The United States has completely destroyed Iran’s Military, including their entire Navy and Air Force, and everything else. Their Leadership is DEAD!
“The Strait of Hormuz will soon be open, and the empty ships are rushing to the United States to ‘load up.’ But, if you listen to the Fake News, we’re losing!”
Meanwhile, peace talks began on Saturday in Islamabad, with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hosting at the Serena Hotel. The American delegation, led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, also included White House envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Iranian delegation, led by Tehran parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, met Sharif.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on X: Follow @KurtZindulka or e-mail to: [email protected]
Read the full article here