US military starts removing mines from Strait of Hormuz

[Munu]

US military starts removing mines from Strait of Hormuz
The Hill

The U.S. military has launched operations to begin de-mining the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said on Saturday.

Centcom said in a social media post highlighted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that two Navy guided-missile destroyers began “setting conditions” for this mission on Saturday morning.

The USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy have previously operated in the Arabian Gulf to help clear the strait of sea mines set by Tehran, according to Centcom.

“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 Adm. Brad Cooper said in the post.

The strait is a critical trading corridor, particularly for global energy markets. About a fifth of the world’s oil consumption flows through the passage on a daily basis.

The military operations between the U.S., Israel and Iran have made the journey through the strait perilous, as Tehran launched counterstrikes on U.S. targets and energy infrastructure in the Gulf region. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also laid mines along the waterway.

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