The U.S. Department of War said it could take six months to completely clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz and that a clearance operation would be difficult to carry out until the Iran war ends, according to a report.
On the 22nd, The Washington Post (WP) reported, citing U.S. officials, that the U.S. Department of Defense presented this outlook in a closed-door briefing to the House Armed Services Committee that day.
The briefing also reported that Iran may have laid more than 20 mines in and around the Strait of Hormuz, and that some were remotely deployed using GPS technology, making them hard for U.S. forces to detect.
This briefing differs somewhat from what U.S. President Donald Trump had said. On the 10th, Trump said on social media (SNS), "We are now starting to clean up the Strait of Hormuz as a favor for countries around the world, including China, Japan, Korea, France, and Germany," indicating that a mine-clearing operation had begun.
Lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties who received the briefing were said to have expressed displeasure at the time. WP analyzed that the need for more time to remove the mines signals that even if a U.S.-Iran armistice deal is reached, oil prices may not stabilize until the end of this year or later, extending economic damage.
Regarding the report, U.S. Department of Defense Spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement that the information came from a closed briefing and was "not accurate." He added, "By deciding to publish false claims, WP has shown it is more interested in advancing a particular agenda than in the truth."