PNN – The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon told Congress in a confidential meeting that mine clearance in the Strait of Hormuz would take about six months and likely would not be completed before the end of the US-Iran conflict.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network; A senior US Department of War official told members of the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that clearing the strategic Strait of Hormuz of mines could take six months, adding that the operation was unlikely to be completed before the end of the war between the United States and Iran, according to three officials familiar with the discussions.
The Washington Post reported that the timeframe cited by the Department of War has frustrated both Democrats and Republicans because it means that gasoline and oil prices will remain high for a long time even after a deal is reached.
Such a scenario could have significant political consequences in the United States, the source said, especially for Republicans as the November midterm elections approach.
Polls have shown that US President Donald Trump’s popularity has declined since the war began and his political base is divided.
Three officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post that lawmakers have been told that Iran may have laid a small number of mines around the Strait of Hormuz. Some of the mines were placed remotely using GPS technology, making them difficult for the U.S. Navy to detect.
The Pentagon did not respond to questions on Wednesday about the military’s assessment of how long the mine-clearing operation would likely take, the Post reported. U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the region, also declined to comment. The White House referred questions to the Pentagon.
Before the war, about 20 percent of the world’s oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz, and Japan, South Korea, China and other Asian countries are among the countries that are heavily dependent on Middle Eastern energy.
The newspaper added that lawmakers were briefed on the latest Pentagon assessment after Trump claimed on social media that “Iran, with the help of the United States, has removed or is removing all naval mines” from the Strait of Hormuz.
The remarks, made by Trump on Friday in a series of messages he posted on the Truth Social platform, coincided with his apparent efforts to calm markets and instill confidence that a deal to end the war was imminent.
The newspaper noted that it was not yet clear what plan the US military would use to carry out the minesweeping operation, and officials have said they could use helicopters, drones and explosives-disposal submarines.
Some commercial ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz during this month’s ceasefire, but shipping traffic ground to a halt again last weekend after Iranian forces, responding to an ongoing naval blockade of Iran, imposed sanctions on oil tankers and declared the waterway closed again.
The US newspaper quoted Richard Nephew, an expert on Iran diplomacy and a senior fellow at Columbia University, as saying that a six-month window to clear the strait of mines would likely shake up oil and gas markets, given the anxiety that ship-owners, captains and insurers would feel about navigating a mined waterway.
Nephew said that “many are not willing to take that risk,” adding that while the presence of mines may not result in a “complete shutdown,” the consequences of making part of the two-lane strait unusable could be severe.
Closing the Strait of Hormuz is a major sticking point between Washington and Tehran. The closure of the strait has triggered a global crisis that has led to a surge in the prices of various commodities, especially oil and gas, affecting countries around the world.