WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that U.S. forces destroyed 10 Iranian mine-laying vessels in the Strait of Hormuz within minutes of his warning that Tehran would face unprecedented military consequences if it did not remove mines from the strategic waterway.
“We have hit, and completely destroyed, 10 inactive mine laying boats and/or ships, with more to follow,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said U.S. Central Command had been eliminating the vessels “with ruthless precision” at Trump’s direction. “We will not allow terrorists to hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage,” Hegseth posted on X, adding that Iran had been “officially put on notice.”
The strikes followed a CNN report that Iran had begun laying mines in the strait, citing U.S. officials who said Tehran was using small vessels carrying two to three mines each. Even as he announced the attacks on the Iranian boats, Trump said the U.S. had “no reports” of Iran placing mines in the waterway.
Trump also said the U.S. would use the same missile technology deployed against drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean to destroy any boat attempting to mine the chokepoint.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical maritime corridors, with more than 20 million barrels of oil and refined products moving through it daily — roughly 20% of global consumption. Any disruption can send shockwaves across energy markets, shipping insurance, and global supply chains.
That vulnerability is already showing. The waterway is undergoing a historic disruption following U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran launched Feb. 28, which sent oil prices higher. On Monday, Trump pledged the strait would remain “safe” and warned Iran it would be hit “20 times harder” if it tried to halt the flow of oil.
The latest U.S. strikes further escalate a fast-moving confrontation that has widened since the Feb. 28 attacks. More than 1,200 people have been killed since the campaign began, including Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. At least eight U.S. service members have also been killed during the fighting.
It was not immediately clear how Tehran would respond to the destruction of the vessels, or whether the boats were crewed at the time of the strikes. The administration’s statements did not specify where in or near the strait the vessels were targeted, nor did they provide a timeline beyond Trump’s claim that the hits came within minutes of his warning.
The mixed messages over whether Iran has actually placed mines in the water underscore a tense information environment as both sides try to shape global perceptions of risk in a shipping lane that links the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea. The mere possibility of mines — even absent confirmed deployment — raises insurance premiums, slows transits and compels navies to surge mine countermeasure assets, all of which add cost and fragility to the oil trade.
For Washington, control of the strait and unimpeded energy flows are central to deterring broader regional escalation and preserving global economic stability. For Tehran, the narrow waterway has long been a pressure point — a place where it can signal defiance or extract leverage without engaging the U.S. military in a conventional fight.
As of late Tuesday, the administration cast the action as a warning shot designed to keep the strait open. “Officially put on notice,” Hegseth wrote. The effects will be measured in the days ahead on shipping lanes, oil markets and whether either side tests the other again in the world’s most sensitive maritime chokepoint.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
