U.S. officials say Iran is laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for the world’s oil

The New York Times ^ | 03/12/26 | Julian E. Barnes

[Fury]

Iran has begun laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf channel that carries 20 percent of the world’s oil, according to U.S. officials, an effort that could further complicate American efforts to restart shipping there.

While the U.S. military said it had destroyed larger Iranian naval vessels that could be used to quickly lay mines in the strait, Iran began using smaller boats for the operation on Thursday, according to a U.S. official briefed on the intelligence.

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TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: anonymoussources; ididthat; ifitmovesshootit; iran; newyorkistantimes; notawar; somuchwinning; specialmilitaryop

[pfflier]

Lets start a betting pool for the first time someone posts “quagmire” (this post excepted).

[11th_VA]

Well, as a former small boat veteran, we used to have Special Boat Units to do Coastal Interdiction

[Governor Dinwiddie]

I'm starting to doubt "the narrative" that the allies have "won" this "police action". It ain't over until all the jihadi are dead.

[FreeReign]

First two paragraphs use unnamed sources.

No way I'm going to click and read through the rest of this nonsense.

[Lizavetta]

And we’re just standing around letting them?

[SuperLuminal]

Good news...
The sooner they distribute them, the sooner we eliminate them...

[AppyPappy]

Well.......stop them from doing that

[John S Mosby]

One wonders just where these “mines” are stored, or if they are even available, number 1.

Number 2— how far out are the sea lanes in which these small boats would have to go and release mines of what size and weight, and... thus, how many mines per trip per boat.

Stray thoughts. Lean toward this being yet another fear agit-prop from the IranianNyarkSlimes fish wrapper.

[montag813]

I'm starting to doubt "the narrative" that the allies have "won" this "police action". It ain't over until all the jihadi are dead.

Iran is a formidable opponent. They didn't buy Omaha Steaks with those pallets of cash Obama sent them.

[alloysteel]

Wasn’t this attempt already countered with the annihilation of the entire fleet of mine-laying vessels that Iran once had?

Same strategy as was used on the drug-runner boats being launched from Venezuela a few months ago. Iran perhaps does not enough sailors left in its naval forces to properly man what few vessels they may still have in reserve.

[Third Person]

bomb Iran into oblivion

[jimtorr]

The straight is only 24 miles wide at the narrowest, so they don’t have to go very far. I imagine small boats can only carry 1 mine at a time.

[Zhang Fei]

[And we’re just standing around letting them?]

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In a word, no. But they’re doing onesies, twosies, not an all-out banzai charge. For now, it’s whack-a-mole. But Iranian boats don’t grow on trees. At some point, they run out. That’s when it ends. In the 80s, that took years, 440 ships damaged or sunk by Iran/Iraq, because Reagan pulled his punches. Trump’s gonna be dropping everything short of a nuke on these Iranian pirates. My projection is two weeks, tops.

[Fledermaus]

Yes. So many pay no attention to news.

[BobL]

“I’m starting to doubt “the narrative” that the allies have “won” this “police action”. It ain’t over until all the jihadi are dead.”

What gave it away for me was when Trump said that he changed his mind regarding help from the Kurds as a ground force. My thought (and posting) then was the Kurds said “thanks, but no thanks”, and Trump re-shaped it as not needing the Kurds.

[rdcbn1]

the game in Iran is being played a many levels China has been fomenting a lot of trouble around the world to pin the US down around the world, disperse and divert our military assets and deplete it's weapons reserves in advance of an invasion of Taiwan that it would like to execute in the late 2020s to early 2030s.

Stirring up trouble in Ukraine, Isreael, Iran, the middle East, Venezuela, Cuba, Panama, Cuba and Canada are all part of that plan.

Trump is not playing their game and his team is doing all it can to re establish deterrence and make China think twice about any regional military adventures in the near term.

Demonstrating to China how easily the US can cut off access to oil from the Middle East needed to fuel China's military machine is an very useful object lesson. A little strategic disruption of China's oil supply could make for a very effective teachable moment to dissuade China from launching any ill advised military adventures. A brief buck a gallon surtax is a cheap price to pay for this

[shotgun]

Taking out these smaller boats seems like a great job for the A10 Warthog.

[whitney69]

“...that carries 20 percent of the world’s oil...”

And 84% of it goes to Asia.

wy69

[RckyRaCoCo]

“Iran sends millions of oil barrels to China through Strait of Hormuz even as war chokes the waterway”