Report: U.S. Deployed Navy SEALs in Secret Strait of Hormuz Mine-Clearing Operation

The United States used Navy SEAL divers for roughly four months in a secret, high-risk operation aimed at locating and neutralizing Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the Financial Times reported today (Sunday). The activity took place mainly at night, with U.S. forces using unmanned boats, underwater vehicles and advanced sonar systems to find the explosives and clear them from shipping lanes.

According to the report, Iran began laying mines in the strait after the outbreak of the war and the U.S.-Israeli strikes in February. The serious danger posed to personnel and vessels made the clearance mission especially complex, and it continued secretly over an extended period.

Alongside efforts to locate mines that had already been laid, the United States tried to prevent Iran from re-mining the shipping lanes. As part of that effort, the U.S. military struck Iranian units identified as they were preparing to lay additional naval mines. Still, maritime authorities have not confirmed most Iranian claims regarding attacks carried out using mines. In fact, since the start of the war, only one mine sighting in the area has been definitively documented.

President Donald Trump recently declared that the international waters in the Strait of Hormuz had been cleared of mines. But maritime experts who spoke with the Financial Times expressed doubt that it is possible to determine with certainty that every mine laid in the area has in fact been found and neutralized. One reason is that the U.S. Navy’s traditional minesweepers were not operating in the region.

In Tehran, meanwhile, officials rejected the American statements and argued that only Iran knows where the mines laid in the strait are located. The uncertainty surrounding the number of mines and their exact locations, the report said, continues to serve Iran: It allows the country to deter shipping companies and maintain a degree of psychological and strategic control over one of the world’s most important energy routes.

Even after the U.S. operation, the danger to vessel traffic in the area has not disappeared. Fears of mines are compounded by the threat of missile and drone attacks, and because of the combined risks, vessel traffic through the strait remains limited while insurance costs have surged.

The Financial Times report stresses that this was not a raid on an Iranian facility, but an ongoing covert operation focused on locating and neutralizing mines within the shipping lanes of the Strait of Hormuz.