A war in Iran has turned the Strait of Hormuz into a choke point so critical that one misstep could rattle every economy on Earth.
Two U.S. Navy destroyers sailed through the strait Saturday to begin sweeping Iranian mines from the waterway, U.S. Central Command said—Washington’s first military movement there since the U.S.–Israeli war with Iran erupted.
CENTCOM released the statement minutes after President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that America had started “clearing out” the channel that carries roughly one-fifth of the planet’s crude.
“Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce,” CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said.
The ships involved are the guided-missile destroyers USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy; underwater drones or other U.S. assets may join them in the next few days, CENTCOM added.
Axios reported earlier that Washington did not coordinate the operation with Tehran.
On Truth Social, Trump called the sweep “a favor” to nations such as China, Japan, and France that “don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves.”
He claimed Iran is “LOSING BIG!” while admitting that its mines still endanger traffic.
“The only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may ‘bunk’ into one of their sea mines,” he wrote.
Iran all but closed the strait after the U.S. and Israel began bombing it on 28 February. Reopening the route was supposedly part of this week’s fragile ceasefire.
Senior Iranian and U.S. officials met face-to-face in Pakistan on Saturday to try to stop a war that has convulsed the Middle East and hammered global markets.
Trump also posted—without specifics—that empty tankers worldwide were “heading to the United States to purchase oil.”
