The warning comes amid heightened tensions over the Strait of Hormuz. (File Photo: Reuters)

Trump says all mines cleared from Hormuz, warns Iran against laying new ones

Donald Trump said the US Navy had informed him that the mines had been cleared, while warning that any vessel involved in placing new mines would be destroyed.

by · India Today

In Short

  • US Navy confirmed mine removal and detonation in Hormuz, says Trump
  • He warns Iran not to place new mines in strategic waterway
  • Tensions remain high over energy route security

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that all mines have been removed or detonated from international waters in the Strait of Hormuz and warned Iran against laying new ones in the strategic waterway. He said the US Navy had informed him that the mines had been cleared, while warning that any vessel involved in placing new mines would be destroyed.

"I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said in a Truth Social post. The warning comes amid heightened tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which a significant share of the world's energy supplies passes.

"Iran has been notified that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed," he added.

Trump said the US was using Space Force to monitor the waterway, which is a crucial route for global oil and gas shipments.

"Through Space Force, we are watching every square inch of the Strait," he said, adding that the US had also been monitoring "Pickaxe Mountain and the already destroyed three other Nuclear sites."

HORMUZ TRAFFIC PLUNGES AMID TENSIONS

While the US and Iran have avoided direct air strikes against each other's forces for several weeks, attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz have continued as both sides seek to assert control over the crucial maritime route.

Oil flows through the strait fell to about 5 million barrels per day on Monday, news agency Reuters reported, citing provisional data from ship-tracking firm Vortexa. That is sharply below the more than 20 million barrels per day recorded before the war, when the waterway carried roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption.

- Ends