The U.S. Navy carried out a secret four-month operation to clear Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, deploying Navy SEAL divers along with drones and advanced sonar technology. The mission, first detailed in a Financial Times report on September 6, took place largely at night amid ongoing U.S.-Iranian exchanges of strikes.

Small teams of divers operated from inflatable boats while unmanned surface vessels and submersibles equipped with high-resolution sonar scanned the seabed for mines. Once located, divers or robotic systems approached the devices to neutralize them, often by attaching explosive charges. The effort focused on international shipping lanes in the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman.

Iran placed the mines after U.S. and Israeli strikes on the country began in February 2026. The International Maritime Organization estimated in June that roughly 80 mines had been deployed along key routes. The Strait of Hormuz handles about 20 percent of global oil shipments, and commercial traffic had largely avoided the area since the conflict erupted.

U.S. Central Command later confirmed that forces had cleared the Traffic Separation Scheme lanes using Navy divers, SEALs, and air support from multiple services. No American casualties were reported during the operation. President Trump stated last week that all mines in the international waters of the strait had been removed or destroyed.

The mission highlighted the risks of mine-clearing in contested waters, where the slow, methodical work left teams vulnerable to Iranian missiles, drones and boats. Shipping executives believe the southern routes near Oman are now safer, though questions remain about other sections of the strait.

The operation demonstrated the effectiveness of combining elite personnel with unmanned systems to restore access to a critical global chokepoint without large-scale conventional forces.