Iran Unable to Locate Mines in Strait of Hormuz, The New York Times Reports

Tehran: The New York Times reports that Iran has been unable to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping because it cannot locate all the naval mines it deployed in the waterway and lacks the capability to remove them quickly, according to US officials.

The report states that Iran laid the mines using small boats shortly after the United States and Israel launched military operations against the country. While this tactic allowed Tehran to rapidly seed the strait, it also made the deployments difficult to track. US officials said it is unclear whether Iran recorded the location of every mine, and some devices may have drifted from their original positions, further complicating efforts to map and clear them, The New York Times reported.

As a result, shipping through the strategic chokepoint has been severely restricted. Iran has kept a narrow path open, allowing vessels that pay a toll to transit, while its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has issued warnings about the danger of ships striking mines. Semiofficial Iranian outlets have also published charts indicating limited “safe routes” through the Strait.

The inability to safely clear the strait has become a significant political and military issue. The report by The New York Times notes that the Trump administration has pressed Iran to allow more free passage, with Donald Trump stating that a temporary cease-fire depends on the “complete, immediate, and safe opening” of the waterway.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged that the strait could be reopened only “with due consideration of technical limitations,” which US officials interpret as a reference to Iran’s difficulty in locating and removing the mines. The issue is expected to feature prominently in ongoing talks in Pakistan between both countries.