Navy SEALs Spent Four Months Demining Hormuz

US Navy SEAL divers spent four months on a covert, mostly nighttime mission to clear Iranian sea mines from the Strait of Hormuz, the Financial Times reported — the operation behind President Trump's declaration that the waterway is open.

The teams worked from inflatable-hulled craft, using robot boats and sonar-equipped submersibles to find mines on the seabed, then swam in to place charges on them.

No US casualties have been reported in connection with the demining operation.

Shipowners and security advisers say the southern half of the strait, near Oman, is likely genuinely clear. They are far less sure about the rest of it.

How It Was Done

SEALs worked in small teams under cover of darkness, according to the FT account carried by the New York Post and the Daily Mail. Robot boats and towed sonar arrays with high-resolution side-view sensors swept large areas of seabed with minimal risk to crews.

The Post reported the Navy's tools included the Common Uncrewed Surface Vessel, a drone boat that tows unmanned submersibles such as the MK 18 Mod 2 Kingfish. Demining expert Bryan Clark told the FT that robot submersibles like Britain's SeaFox or the newer US AN/ASQ-235 Anchorfish can also destroy mines with explosives.

"That is usually followed up by a navy diver who's got to get in the water and approach the mine, and then put a charge on it and destroy it," said Bill Hamblet, a retired US Navy captain who operated in the Gulf, in comments to the FT.