Iran Can't Locate Its Own Mines In Strait Of Hormuz, Hampering Reopening Amid Peace Talks: Report

Last Updated:April 11, 2026, 07:32 IST

The disclosure helps explain why Tehran has been slow to comply with US President Donald Trump's demands to restore shipping through the strait.

Iran is unable to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz partly because it cannot locate all of the mines it laid in the waterway and lacks the capability to remove them even when it can, US officials told The New York Times, in a development that adds a significant technical complication to the peace talks in Islamabad.

Read more: Trump Says Strait Of Hormuz To Open ‘Fairly Soon’, Vows To Do So ‘With Or Without’ Iran

The disclosure helps explain why Tehran has been slow to comply with US President Donald Trump’s demands to restore shipping through the strait and why Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, now in Pakistan for talks with Vice President JD Vance, said this week that the waterway would reopen “with due consideration of technical limitations." American officials confirmed to NYT that phrase was a direct reference to Iran’s mine problem.

Read more: ‘We’re Going To Open Up Gulf With Or Without A Deal’: Trump On Islamabad Peace Talks

The strait, through which roughly one fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes, has been reduced to a trickle of traffic since Iran began mining it last month, shortly after the United States and Israel launched their war against the country. The mines, combined with the threat of Iranian drone and missile attacks, handed Tehran its most potent leverage in the conflict- driving up global energy prices and giving it a critical bargaining chip at the negotiating table.

Read more: Trump Wishes Vance Luck For Islamabad Talks, Declares Iran ‘Militarily Defeated’

Iran used small boats to seed the strait with mines but did so haphazardly, US officials said. It is not clear that Iran recorded the location of every mine it planted and even those that were logged may have shifted- some were placed in a manner that allowed them to drift with currents. Iran left a narrow corridor open, allowing ships that pay a toll to pass and its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has published charts showing designated safe routes but those routes are severely constrained by the uncharted minefield surrounding them.

News world Iran Can't Locate Its Own Mines In Strait Of Hormuz, Hampering Reopening Amid Peace Talks: Report

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