Mines Across Hormuz Would Create Lethal Barrier to All Traffic

Mining the Strait of Hormuz would effectively render the narrow sea corridor impassable for escorts and tankers from any nation — including Iran’s own — while removing the explosives can’t be done so long as Iran can attack the mine-sweeping ships.

Iran has vowed to keep the strait closed, but whether it’s actually mining the area is contested. On Thursday, UK Defense Secretary John Healey said it was becoming “clearer and clearer” that Iran was laying explosives there, while US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday that there was “no clear evidence” of that happening.