US CENTCOM Claims Strait of Hormuz Routes Cleared of Mines
The head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), Admiral Brad Cooper, has said that the main internationally recognised shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz have been cleared of Iranian sea mines. The strait is the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman’s Musandam Peninsula that links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
In a post on X on Friday, 30 October (local time), Admiral Cooper said that during an aerial survey of the strait he saw dozens of commercial vessels moving through the waterway, along with US unmanned sea drones on patrol. He added that he did not see any IRGC vessels during the flight. He also said US forces had helped Gulf partners export more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil since the summer.
Iran disputes the US position. A spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, has rejected US claims about the strait and demanded independent evidence, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported.
The statement came in the same week that several merchant ships were attacked in and near the strait, including the tanker MT Louise 1, which was hit by limpet mines about 25 nautical miles north-east of Khasab, Oman, and the LNG carrier Al Mayeda in the Persian Gulf. The IRGC has also claimed that three tankers struck mines on a southern route.
For seafarers, the conflicting statements mean the mine threat cannot yet be treated as over. Crews transiting Hormuz are still expected to follow the latest UKMTO, JMIC and naval guidance, keep extra lookouts and stay on the recommended routes, as limpet-mine and projectile attacks continue in the area.
