Pentagon assures safe passage through Strait of Hormuz despite presence of mines

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Tuesday in the Pentagon that vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz currently have access to a secure lane, as the U.S. seeks to restore freedom of navigation through the embattled sea passage.The guarantee comes a day after U.S. Naval Forces Central Command issued a security warning regarding maritime explosive devices to vessels passing through the strait.“Transit via or in close proximity to the traffic separation scheme should be considered extremely hazardous due the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated,” a memo with the warning read.The U.S. instructed vessels to travel through an enhanced security area south of the traffic separation scheme in Oman territorial waters and coordinate with Oman authorities to ensure safe passage amid anticipated heavy traffic.The traffic separation scheme refers to two lanes in the Strait of Hormuz that were previously deemed safe.“Any follow-on effort if there are mines identified, would be something that some of our units could undertake or the world could undertake,” Hegseth said. “But right now we know we have a lane of safe passage that commercial shipping can flow through.”Iranian naval mines have proven a constant threat throughout the Iran war.Minesweeping technology in the Middle East is ‘a very good package,’ Caudle saysWhile the U.S. military has destroyed a number of Iran’s mine-laying boats and storage bunkers for naval mines, the country has been previously assessed to have a stockpile of around 6,000 as recently as 2025, according to Congress.CENTCOM announced April 11 that it had began “setting conditions for clearing mines” with the assistance of Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy.The U.S. Navy currently has several options to identify and neutralize mines, including Avenger-class minesweepers and lndependence-class littoral combat ships with a mine countermeasures mission package.T