Iran’s National Defense Council continues to stand by its threat that any attack on the country’s coasts or islands will trigger the mining of the entire Persian Gulf, extending the blockade already choking the Strait of Hormuz. The threat, first issued Monday, comes as the United States prepares to send thousands more troops into the region amid Operation Epic Fury’s fourth week. Iran said all access routes and communication lines in the Gulf would be seeded with naval mines, including floating types that can be released from the shore. The move could turn the Strait into a significant long-term hazard, mirroring the current closure of Hormuz and placing responsibility squarely on any aggressor.
READ MORE: In a Move That Will Surprise Exactly No One, Iran Reportedly Rejects US 15-Point Peace Proposal
The threat also revives memories of the 1980s Tanker War. In the summer of 1987, an Iranian mine tore open the supertanker Bridgeton under U.S. escort. American warships trailed behind the damaged vessel, using its hull as an improvised minesweeper to limp to safety. A year later, the USS Samuel B. Roberts struck another mine and nearly sank, prompting Operation Praying Mantis, which was the largest U.S. naval surface battle since World War II and resulted in spikes to oil prices.
The conflict in Iran has already roiled global markets. After spiking above $110 a barrel earlier in the conflict, Brent crude settled just under $100 on Tuesday and was trading around $104 Wednesday morning, still up more than 40 percent from pre-war levels. U.S. gasoline prices have climbed toward $4 a gallon, while European natural gas futures have surged because of halted LNG shipments from Qatar and the UAE. Shipping insurance premiums have also soared due to the risk of tanker traffic through Hormuz which has virtually stopped. Western nations have countered with policy measures intended to lighten the sting like releasing oil reserves but we’re still more than a month away from those reserves being
Although CENTCOM destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels and associated facilities, U.S. assessments indicate that Iran still retains 80–90% of its small-boat fleet along with an estimated inventory of 5,000–6,000 naval mines. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is deploying roughly 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, joining thousands of Marines already en route aboard amphibious ships. Iran can still execute its mining plan despite American air and sea superiority. Iranian mines, such as the moored Maham-3 and bottom-dwelling Maham-7, can be quickly dropped into the water from small submarines, fast attack boats, unmanned drone boats, or even coastal launchers.
President Trump recently demanded that Iran immediately remove mines it has placed in the Strait of Hormuz, after U.S. intelligence reports indicated that Iran has already laid at least a dozen of them in the waterway.
A small fraction of Iran’s stockpile could halt traffic for weeks or months driving energy prices higher and fueling global inflation. Despite weeks of devastating airstrikes that have gutted its air defenses, missile stocks, and conventional navy, Iran believes its asymmetric tools still give it leverage to deter invasion and hope to extract concessions from America at the negotiating table. As American forces mass in the Gulf, the world won’t have to wait for long to see whether Iran’s mine threat will force a stalemate or ignite a wider conflict.
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