Maritime mines were loaded onto Iranian naval vessels last month in preparation for blocking the strategic Strait of Hormuz. US officials have told Reuters that the loading of mines took place some time after Israel’s attack on Iran on June 13th.
Closure of the Hormuz Strait would have affected the transport of 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied gas. Energy prices rose slightly during the 12-day war but stabilised after a ceasefire was announced.
Following the June 22nd US bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites at Natanz , Isfahan, and Fordow, Iran’s parliament adopted a measure calling for the strait to be blocked. A final decision was left to Iran’s national security council, which did not approve the move, according to Iranian media.
A decision to plant the mines would also have involved the endorsement of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Mine deployment would not have served Iran’s own economic and diplomatic interests. It exports 1.7 million barrels of oil a day through Hormuz. It would also have been reluctant to anger Saudi Arabia, which ships six million barrels through the strait every day.
While shunned by the US and Europe, Iran has in recent years cultivated good relations with its Gulf neighbours. This effort was crowned in 2023 by the restoration of ties with Saudi Arabia after six years of estrangement which was caused by Riyadh’s execution of dissident Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
The kingdom and the Gulf countries strongly oppose the destabilisation of their sub-region. Rulers, notably Saudi crown prince Mohammed Salman, have adopted ambitious plans to develop their non-oil economies and enrich their societies.
An anonymous White House official said that thanks to the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, successful attacks on Iran’s Yemeni Houthi allies, and a “maximum pressure” sanction campaign against Iran, “the Strait of Hormuz remains open [and] freedom of navigation has been restored [although it was not disrupted] and Iran has been significantly weakened”.
According to the Florida-based maritime-executive website, Iran possesses about 5,000-6,000 naval mines of diverse types which can be planted covertly by mini-submarines or by surface vessels.
Iran mined the Strait of Hormuz in the late 1980s during Iran-Iraq war to target US naval ships. The United States and the Gulf countries backed Iraq in the conflict.
