US says Iran-laid mines cleared from Strait of Hormuz, shipping lanes open

Washington: The United States has cleared sea mines it says were planted by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Thursday, calling the operation a “major milestone” for the strategic waterway.

In a video message posted on X, US CENTCOM Commander Brad Cooper said: “The US military has achieved a major milestone in the Strait of Hormuz. We have successfully cleared sea mines in the Strait’s international shipping lanes that were laid months ago by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”

“Over the past few months, our forces meticulously and quietly cleared the sea mine threats using a combination of navy diverse, and navy seas along with US air power from the Army, Navy and Air Force”, Cooper said.

He described the operation as “challenging and dangerous to say the least” but said US forces had completed the mission.

Cooper declared that the international shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz are “open, and the momentum is building”.

The Strait, one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints, handles nearly a fifth of global energy trade and has become a major flashpoint in the escalating US-Iran conflict.

Iran, meanwhile, is preparing conditions for reopening the waterway, according to its top security official. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said mediators had asked Tehran to outline its terms, with an end to the regional war among its demands.

Since the war with the United States began on February 28, Iran has maintained tight control over the Strait of Hormuz, while Washington has imposed a naval counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

The blockade has also affected Iran's fuel supplies. On Wednesday, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah said the country was unable to import enough petrol to make up for a shortfall in domestic production.

"Petrol production is insufficient, and because of the US naval blockade, we cannot import it," he was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

Long queues have been reported at petrol stations in Iran in recent days. Presidential chief of staff Mohsen Haji-Mirzaei said petrol quotas would be reviewed, without providing further details.

Iran has long subsidised petrol, keeping prices among the world's lowest, making any changes to fuel pricing politically sensitive.

Iranian officials have rejected US economic pressure as ineffective, arguing that the measures will not force Tehran to change course.

"The country is in an all-out economic war," said Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in a statement carried by local media.

"We will see that the government... will defeat the enemy on this ground as well," he added.