To avoid risk of mines, Navy directs ships on path farther from Iran

Washington —  The U.S. subject is directing commercialized ships towards a way successful the Strait of Hormuz farther from Iran that the Navy has spent weeks clearing. The U.S. warns that transiting the mean way could beryllium "extremely hazardous" due to the fact that of mines laid successful the strait by Iran. 

The notice to mariners posted the aforesaid time the U.S. began its latest effort, "Project Freedom," to reopen astatine slightest portion of the Strait of Hormuz. As portion of the operation, forces nether U.S. Central Command volition coordinate with commercialized ships to usher them done a cleared way successful the strait.

At a briefing Tuesday, the Pentagon displayed a graphic saying Iran had laid caller mines successful the Strait of Hormuz connected April 23. In March, CBS News reported determination were astir a twelve Iranian mines successful the strait. That aforesaid month, the Pentagon tasked MQ-9 Reaper drones with conducting excavation sweeper enactment passim the captious waterway. 

Cargo ships, including bulk carriers and wide cargo vessels, beryllium astatine anchor offshore arsenic a tiny motorboat passes successful the foreground, successful the Strait of Hormuz disconnected Bandar Abbas, Iran, May 4 , 2026. Amirhosein Khorgooi / AP

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Defense Department's limb for collecting and analyzing outer imagery and geospatial data, has besides been tapped for excavation hunting duties, according to 2 U.S. officials who spoke to CBS News connected the information of anonymity to sermon nationalist information issues. 

"It is already good reported that Iran has laid mines successful the Strait of Hormuz, though not extensively," Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, told CBS News erstwhile asked however galore mines are successful the Strait.  

"We've been addressing this substance successful past weeks, including by clearing an effectual pathway ships tin usage to safely transit. We volition proceed to instrumentality steps to guarantee opportunities stay for ships to implicit their journeys safely," Hawkins said successful the statement.

When it was reported successful March that Iran had laid mines, President Trump denied the U.S. had immoderate cognition of it, saying, "we person nary reports of them doing so." The Pentagon besides said astatine the clip there was "no wide evidence" that mines had been dropped successful the strait, but successful caller days, the medication has acknowledged the beingness of immoderate mines. 

"I don't cognize if radical admit however outrageous this is," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday astatine a White House briefing. "That immoderate state would effort to occurrence at, to descend commercialized vessels oregon enactment mines successful the h2o — some of these things are illegal." 

On April 24, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran that laying immoderate much mines would represent a usurpation of the ceasefire. 

"If there's attempts to laic – recklessly and irresponsibly – laic much mines, we're going to woody with that. It's a usurpation of the ceasefire," Hegseth said.

On Tuesday erstwhile asked astir the menace of mines, Hegseth said, "If determination are mines identified, it would beryllium thing that our — immoderate of our units could undertake oregon the satellite could undertake. But close now, we cognize we person a lane of harmless transition that commercialized shipping tin travel through."

So far, 2 U.S. commercialized ships person near the Persian Gulf since Project Freedom began. That's a tiny fraction of the 1,550 commercialized vessels Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said person been stuck successful the Gulf. 

Hegseth said "hundreds much ships from nations astir the satellite are lining up to transit" but neither Hegseth nor Caine acceptable immoderate expectations for however galore are expected to transverse successful the coming days. 

They some described Project Freedom arsenic a "defensive operation" that is "temporary successful duration," abstracted from the bombing campaign, Operation Epic Fury. On Tuesday, Rubio said Epic Fury "is over" and "concluded." 

Iran has said its menace against the strait is simply a effect to the bombing and volition proceed until the U.S. subject ends its blockade connected Iranian ports.