Strait of Hormuz mine threat roils Iran war, oil prices

What happened

The Pentagon on Tuesday night said the U.S. had destroyed several Iranian naval vessels, “including 16 mine layers near the Strait of Hormuz,” during another day of market turbulence triggered by the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. CNN, citing U.S. intelligence sources, reported Tuesday that Iran had already begun laying mines in the strait, the shipping chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s oil usually passes. Iran has effectively shut the narrow route with threats to attack any ship attempting to pass through.

Who said what

“If Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait, and we have no reports of them doing so,” President Donald Trump said on social media Tuesday afternoon, “the Military consequences” will be “at a level never seen before” unless the mines are “removed forthwith.” The mining “is not extensive yet, with a few dozen having been laid in recent days,” CNN said. CBS News said U.S. intelligence reports indicated Iran was “taking steps to deploy mines” in the strait, and likely had “roughly 2,000 to 6,000 naval mines” in stock.

The uncertainty about Iran’s mining efforts “came on a day when the Trump administration officials sent mixed messages about the war, including about oil transport,” The New York Times said. The “confusion was typified” by Energy Secretary Chris Wright saying on social media that Navy warships had “successfully escorted” an oil tanker through the strait, then quickly deleting the post after the Pentagon said it had not happened. Wright’s deleted post was “enough to wipe out million-dollar trades,” The Wall Street Journal said, as oil prices dropped then rose above $90 a barrel again, leaving investors “struggling to see through the fog of war emanating from the Trump administration itself.”

The U.S. Navy “has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz,” Reuters said. At least three merchant ships — two cargo ships and a tanker — were hit by projectiles near the strait Wednesday morning, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.

What next?

Tehran’s threats and attacks may be keeping most ships out, but Iran’s own tankers are “exporting more oil through the Strait of Hormuz than before the war,” throwing it a “financial lifeline” amid the “blistering attack from the U.S. and Israel,” the Journal said.