The campaign to prevent Iran closing the critical Strait of Hormuz sea lane continues with an air raid on the country’s “primary” sea mine facility at Yazd, Israel has said.
An Israel Defence Force (IDF) statement says the country struck Iran’s “primary facility for the productions of missiles and sea mines” at Yazd overnight.
Per the Israeli intelligence assessment the purpose of the facility was twofold. On one hand it was a factory where mines were researched and built, where “most of the missiles and naval mines are developed by the Iranian navy forces”. On the other, it was also used for storage of missiles and mines.
Ending Iran’s ability to hold the world economy to ransom through its ability to close the Strait, and choke off a considerable fraction of the earth’s daily crude oil consumption, is evidently a critical goal for the present conflict. To that end, degrading Iran’s ability to generate mine warfare capacity and eroding its magazine depth of mines is crucial for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open.
Historically, Iran had several levers to pull when it came to controlling the Strait. It had an air force and a conventional navy, and it also possessed considerable asymmetric warfare capabilities including ground-based anti-ship missiles and sea mines. It seems all but certain Iran’s air force and navy were destroyed quickly in the first weeks of the U.S.-Israel offensive, and now strikes are focussing on the trickier job of taking out the diffuse stockpiles of missiles and mines.
As reported, Iran has largely refrained from actually mining the strait so far, likely as doing so to any meaningful degree would make a negotiated settlement and survival of the regime impossible, given it would likely push the United States towards unrestricted warfare. Nevertheless, it is claimed a small number — perhaps a dozen — Iranian mines have been released in the Strait, possibly as a demonstration of capability to claim a bargaining chip as Iran and the U.S. begin negotiations.
With Iran’s conventional navy sunk, anti-ship missiles targeted with the latest generation of bunker-buster bombs, “mosquito fleet” of fast suicide boats hunted down by A-10s, and mine stocks struck by the Israeli air force, its ability to command the Strait becomes more questionable by the day.
This pattern was exacerbated yesterday, by yet another decapitation strike taking out the chief of the Iranian navy, the officer responsible for control of the Strait and denying it to Iran’s enemies. How quickly another officer can step into his shoes and assume what is left of that command remains to be seen. The United States Central Command called on all Iranian navy sailors to abandon their posts to save their lives.
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