As U.S. and Iranian officials met to negotiate an extended cease-fire, two U.S. Navy destroyers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday to begin an operation to clear mines from the critical waterway, the Department of Defense said.
In a statement, U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said that the two ships, the U.S.S. Frank E. Peterson and U.S.S. Michael Murphy, both guided-missile destroyers, entered the Persian Gulf through the strait in preparations to locate and clear naval mines that Iran has laid in the waters. The aim is to make the strait safe again for commercial shipping traffic.
Iran agreed to reopen the waterway to shipping traffic as part of a two-week cease-fire deal with the United States announced on Tuesday. But that process has been slow in part because Tehran cannot locate all the mines it laid and lacks the capability to remove them, according to U.S. officials, requiring American help with the process.
The Central Command statement added that more U.S. military resources, including underwater drones, would join the clearance effort “in the coming days.”
A spokesman for Iran’s military, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, strongly denied that the American warships had approached and entered the strait, and he said Iran’s armed forces still controlled the waterway, according to Iran’s state broadcaster. Tasnim News Agency, a semiofficial Iranian news agency, also claimed on Saturday “that there is currently no traffic in the Strait of Hormuz” and that Tehran had refused “permission” to an American destroyer that sought to traverse the strait. A U.S. official denied that any U.S. ships had avoided the strait because of Iranian opposition.
A choke point for energy and chemical shipments on which the global economy depends, the strait has been effectively closed for weeks, since Iran attacked several commercial ships and laid mines in the area in response to the U.S. and Israeli attacks. That has led to widespread increases in energy prices and slower economic growth forecasts. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through the strait.
The Central Command announcement came as an American team led by Vice President JD Vance met with Iranian officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, to discuss a settlement to the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran that began on Feb. 28.
Reopening the strait is a central U.S. demand. Iran has allowed some commercial ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz but has sought to collect tolls. Iranian officials now publicly insist that any peace deal should ensure Tehran future revenue from the waterway.
Michael Crowley covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times. He has reported from nearly three dozen countries and often travels with the secretary of state.
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