The US military said on Saturday that it had begun a mine-clearing operation in the Strait of Hormuz, with two US warships passing through the key waterway.
In a post on X, the US Central Command said two US Navy missile destroyers, USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy, “transited the Strait of Hormuz and operated in the Arabian Gulf as part of a broader mission to ensure the strait is fully clear of sea mines previously laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.”
Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of Central Command, said in a statement: “Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce.”
CENTCOM said that additional US forces, “including underwater drones, will join the clearance effort in the coming days.”
Earlier on Saturday, US President Donald Trump posted on social media that the United States military has started to clear the strait, and that all of Iran’s minelaying ships had been sunk.
“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, adding that “all 28” of Iran’s “mine dropper boats are also lying at the bottom of the sea.”
Trump’s comments were dismissed by Iran’s state-affiliated Nournews, which claimed that it was “fake news.”
A Pakistani source also denied that any US vessel had passed through the waterway.
Trump has repeatedly said that American forces have destroyed Iran’s navy and air force while crippling its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
But fear of Iranian attacks on shipping over the past several weeks has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical conduit for global oil supplies. Throttling the strait has disrupted global energy markets.
US gasoline prices have spiked even though most of the oil that flows through the waterway does not go to the United States.
The direct talks on Saturday were held between US Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Pakistan’s army chief was also present.
Britain’s Financial Times newspaper reported that the talks briefly hit a stalemate over the status of the Strait of Hormuz, but Pakistani officials later said that the delegations had reconvened for a second round of negotiations later in the evening.
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