Inside the dangerous US mission that cleared Iran’s mines from Hormuz shipping lanes

President Donald Trump declared last week that the United States had removed or detonated all mines in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, the commander of U.S. Central Command has offered the clearest public account yet of the high-stakes operation behind that declaration: a months-long effort in which U.S. forces quietly cleared Iranian sea mines from established international shipping lanes used by commercial vessels.

Other threats still stand between the cleared lanes and a return to normal activity in one of the world’s most important waterways. The latest maritime guidance still classifies the Strait at a "SEVERE" threat level. Recent attacks have struck tankers near Oman, and oil flows remain far below prewar levels.

"We have successfully cleared sea mines in the Strait’s international shipping lanes that were laid months ago by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a video update.

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"Internationally recognized transit routes in the Strait are free of Iranian sea mines thanks to the incredible work of the U.S. military," Cooper said.

Cooper identified the cleared area as the Strait’s Traffic Separation Scheme, the long-standing system of opposing lanes that guides commercial vessels through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman.

"Our forces meticulously and quietly cleared them of sea mine threats using a combination of Navy divers, Navy SEALs and U.S. air power from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps," Cooper said.

The operation was carried out as the Navy was in the middle of a major transition in how it handles mine warfare.

The service had retired its four Bahrain-based mine countermeasure ships the previous year as newer unmanned systems were still being fielded. In April, defense analyst Bryan Clark told Fox News Digital the Navy was at a "nadir" in its mine-sweeping capacity.

At the time, retired Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, who previously commanded the Navy’s 5th Fleet, said newer technology was increasingly being used to locate and neutralize mines, including unmanned systems that map the seabed and identify potential threats before explosive ordnance teams move in.

Cooper’s account now shows U.S. forces relied on a broader combination of Navy divers, SEALs and air power to clear the international shipping lanes. CENTCOM has not disclosed the precise role each capability played.

"The circumstances were challenging and dangerous to say the least, but we got the job done," Cooper said. "Bottom line, today international shipping lanes are open and momentum is building."

Donegan, who was not involved in the current operation, said mine-clearance operations begin with surface and subsurface vessels, including unmanned systems, locating and identifying possible mines. Once mines are identified, autonomous systems, specially trained Navy divers and SEALs can destroy or neutralize them.

Different sections of a waterway can be at different stages of the process at the same time, Donegan said, with forces neutralizing mines in one area while detection and identification continue elsewhere.

Throughout the operation, the Navy continues scanning the waterway to ensure it has not missed any mines, he said.

Donegan said the Navy uses a sophisticated detection model before declaring a waterway clear.

"In simplest terms they have to conduct enough sweeps of the lanes to drive the probability of detection of mines to virtually 100% in the model," he said.

Donegan said the calculation takes into account factors including the detection systems and their effectiveness, characteristics of the waterway and the type of seabed.

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The Navy has also spent years preparing for such an operation. Donegan said elements of large-scale mine clearance in the Strait have been practiced through recurring NAVCENT mine-countermeasure exercises dating to 2012, along with regular Navy training.

Cooper said U.S. forces have assisted nearly 1,500 commercial vessels through the Strait in recent months by providing coordinated protection. Those ships carried nearly 750 million barrels of crude oil bound for global energy markets, he said.

The CENTCOM commander said the military is pursuing two missions at once: enforcing a naval blockade on Iran and protecting commercial passage through the Strait. He said that since the blockade resumed in mid-July, U.S. forces have turned around 75 vessels attempting to run it and disabled three that failed to comply with directions.

Cooper did not say how many mines U.S. forces found or destroyed.

Axios reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials, that American forces swept more than 200 mine-like objects from the main shipping lane. Of those objects, 11 were actual mines, and only a few had been properly deployed.

The figures illustrate the painstaking identification process Donegan described: Forces must investigate possible threats before determining which objects are actually mines.

CENTCOM has not provided further details on the systems used during the operation or how individual mines were neutralized. A defense official told Fox News Digital that the military would not discuss operational specifics for security reasons.

The broader maritime-security picture has yet to catch up with CENTCOM’s declaration.

The latest Joint Maritime Information Center advisory, issued through the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations office on Aug. 25, keeps the Strait of Hormuz at a "SEVERE" threat level and says deliberate hostile action remains highly likely.

The advisory says mine-danger areas remain active and warns of a continued risk from drifting or uncharted mines in and near the Traffic Separation Scheme. It says clearance and mine-surveying operations continue throughout the Strait and that commercial traffic is expected to remain below prewar levels.

The assessment predates Cooper’s video update. No public advisory downgrading the threat level or lifting the underlying warnings had been issued as of Friday.

Donegan said the possibility of drifting mines does not disappear entirely after a route has been cleared.

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"In the Gulf there is always the danger of drifting mines that are not fixed, that are left over from this conflict or previous ones in the region," Donegan said. "That threat from those in the Gulf has historically been very low especially due to currents in that area that make it unlikely that drifting mines stay in the lane and contact a commercial vessel."

Commercial crews are also still confronting attacks.

UKMTO reported that tankers near Oman were struck by unknown projectiles on Aug. 24 and Aug. 25, setting off fires that crews later extinguished. All crew members were reported safe in both incidents. The public alerts did not identify the vessels or attribute the strikes.

Oil flows through the Strait stood at about 5 million barrels per day Monday, down from more than 20 million before the war, according to Reuters, which cited provisional Vortexa tracking data.

The recovery remains uneven. Reuters reported Friday that seven commodity vessels transited the Strait on Thursday, down from 17 the day before and below the 10-day average of 15 vessels, based on preliminary shipping data.

Iran and Oman separately announced this week that they were discussing a temporary joint navigation corridor and a joint mine-clearance project. Their statements did not specify whether that work would cover the same Traffic Separation Scheme CENTCOM says U.S. forces have cleared.

Cooper’s announcement provides the most detailed official account yet of the operation behind Trump’s declaration and marks a significant step toward restoring commercial passage through the Strait.

The U.S. military says the recognized commercial lanes are open and protected. But the latest maritime risk guidance, continued attacks and sharply reduced traffic show that the broader Strait remains dangerous and disrupted.