US strikes Iran's IRGC minelayer boats near Hormuz: What to know
The Pentagon is shifting focus to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' unconventional warfare tactics could threaten the vital economic shipping lane in the long term.
WASHINGTON — US warplanes over the Gulf turned their guns on one of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ key weapons in its unconventional arsenal on Tuesday in a bid to open the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping traffic.
US Central Command said its forces had struck "16 minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz" amid continued strikes on larger Iranian naval vessels. The strikes were carried out after US military officials grew more concerned that Iran's IRGC naval forces were deploying floating mines in the 20-30-mile wide waterway, a day after a senior Iranian official hinted at plans to do so on Monday, a person familiar with the matter said.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Iranian vessels had laid fewer than 10 mines in the strait.
The war's center of gravity appeared poised to shift to the waters of the narrow Hormuz Strait early this week amid new threats to escalate the war by US President Donald Trump if Iran continues to interfere with the flow of global oil supply, even as he apparently sought an off-ramp from the war. Commercial traffic through Hormuz has dropped sharply amid concerns vessels could be hit by missiles or drones.
