Source: Fox News · 2026-09-01 · Original article ↗

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

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Twenty-one miles wide. Two-mile lanes. Divers and SEALs walked the floor Iran mined.

Summary

  • Fox News reports CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said U.S. forces cleared IRGC sea mines from the Strait of Hormuz Traffic Separation Scheme after President Trump declared international waters mined-out last week.
  • Cooper said Navy divers, SEALs, and air power from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines did the work quietly over months. The strait is 21 miles wide at its narrowest, with two-mile lanes each way.
  • The Navy had already retired four Bahrain-based mine-countermeasure ships. Analyst Bryan Clark called that a nadir. Retired Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan said unmanned seabed mappers now find the charge before the swimmer attaches.
  • Maritime guidance still lists the strait at SEVERE. Tankers have been hit near Oman, and oil flows remain far below prewar levels even with the lanes swept.

Commentary

A refinery dad still wipes condensate off a cracked knuckle and watches the night price of diesel. He did not clock in so an IRGC mine could sit under the only door out of the Gulf.

That is the gap. Twenty-one miles. Two-mile lanes. Four retired sweepers. The honest tanker already paid the hull. The diver paid the dark.

Look every working father who still fills a tank before dawn in the eye and answer this: if the lane is swept and the threat is still SEVERE, who gets to call the war finished?

Comments

If Hormuz lanes are swept and the threat is still SEVERE, who calls the war done?
u/border_dad · 5h

Cooper named divers, SEALs, and four services. That is a receipt, not a press puff.

u/midwest_vet · 4h

I rode a sweeper. Retiring four Bahrain hulls and then walking the floor is guts, not luck.

u/rule_first · 4h

Traffic Separation Scheme. IRGC mines. SEVERE still on the board. Read the notice.

u/tokyo_ally · 3h

Allied tankers still price the strait in nights. A swept lane is not a cheap lane.

u/docket_rat · 3h

21 miles. 2-mile lanes. Four retired MCM ships. File the nadir.

u/night_shift · 2h

I still smell diesel. I want the mine gone before the next tanker pays my hours.

u/texas_mom · 90m

A mine under a hull is a grocery bill with a timer.

u/gulf_watch · 55m

Oman hits and low oil flow say the IRGC kept a second magazine. Stay on the water.

u/press_clip · 30m

Fox printed Cooper, 21 miles, SEVERE, and the retired sweepers. Argue those nouns.

u/soc_lead · 15m

Keep the divers paid. Keep the unmanned mappers wet. Hormuz is not a slogan.

Paraphrased comments. Not attributed.

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