Report: Floating and Bottom Mines Detected in Strait of Hormuz
Reports of Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz have circulated for weeks, but the most detailed signal yet comes from CBS, which now reports that U.S. intelligence has detected at least a dozen advanced mines of two types in the waterway.
U.S. officials who are familiar with the latest intelligence told CBS that there are two types of Iranian mines emplaced in the strait. The first is an update on a familiar but deadly design: the buoyant, moored, high-explosive mine, which floats below the surface waiting for a passing ship. The Iranian variant, known as the Mahan 3, is a 300-kilo mine with acoustic sensors to detect passing ships. According to open-source munitions database Collective Awareness to UXO (CAT-UXO), it can pick up the signature of a nearby vessel from a distance of about 10 feet away. As it is acoustically activated, a nonmagnetic hull can still set it off.
The second device believed to be present in the strait is a 220-kilo bottom mine, the Maham 7, which can be deployed by small craft or helicopters. The device is intended for targeting smaller vessels, like landing craft or patrol ships, and can be installed in waters as shallow as 10 feet of depth (or as deep as 300 feet). Iran has previously offered the Maham 7 for export sale and has published its own specifications.
Previously, President Donald Trump has said that there are "no reports" of Iran mining the strait, while insisting that Iran must remove any mines if in fact it has laid them without the knowledge of U.S. forces.
In response to escalating threats from the White House, Iran has threatened to "fully close" the strait using unspecified means. For now, Iran's foreign ministry says, "non-hostile ships" may use the waterway so long as they participate in an Iranian-controlled tolling system. In practice, traffic through the strait has slowed to a trickle; a small number of vessels are using a lane between Iran's islands of Qeshm and Larak, passing well within Iranian waters.
Countering the mine threat
U.S. Central Command has been actively engaged in a campaign to destroy Iran's minelaying capability before it deploys by targeting Iranian naval forces, including smaller craft. The command has begun using Apache helicopters and A-10 close air support planes to support that objective, suggesting confidence that slow-moving, non-stealthy aircraft can now operate in the Strait of Hormuz.
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Once deployed and activated, sea mines are a serious threat to shipping and are difficult to remove. There are few assets available: the U.S. Navy recently decommissioned and shipped home four Avenger-class minesweepers from the Gulf, and two of Central Command's three Independence-class LCS mine countermeasures hulls have been spotted in Southeast Asia, thousands of miles from the strait. Naval analysts suggest that Iranian antiship threats would have to be thoroughly reduced before beginning minehunting, as vessels engaged in the task are vulnerable to attack due to the slow nature of their work.
"I think the worst case now would be if we’ve found positive evidence of the Strait being mined," former Central Command chief General Joseph Votel told TWZ last week. "That would really extend out the time [for reopening]. We probably have to assume that there are mines in there right now. But a serious mining effort by Iran could really complicate and slow things down."
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