Politics
Naval nightmare threatening Achilles’ heel of US warships
Following US and Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran is believed to be seeking to choke the vital Strait of Hormuz — the world’s most important oil shipping route — with fears it may be deploying sea mines to disrupt tanker traffic.
US forces have struck 28 Iranian mine-laying vessels, President Donald Trump said Wednesday, more than a week into the Middle East war.
Any Iranian mining of the key shipping lane, as its forces did in the 1980s, would be a nightmare for Western demining teams.
Here’s an explainer:
What are sea mines?
“Mines are the weapon of the poor,” a former senior officer with the French navy and specialist on the subject told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Yet “they pose a fundamental threat to maritime trade and to the freedom of action of naval forces,” he said.
How many does Iran have?
Elie Tenenbaum, a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), said Iran was estimated to have some 5,000-6,000 naval mines, including “drifting mines that are extremely difficult to intercept”.
Contact mines can drift around on the surface with the current or can be moored to an anchor on the sea floor. They explode when they come into contact with a ship´s hull.
“It´s the most rudimentary mine, the cheapest one, and the main threat in the Strait of Hormuz,” said the former high-ranking member of the navy.
The Iranians also had influence mines adapted to the Gulf´s shallow waters, which are sown on the seabed and explode when a large ship is detected overhead, he said.
The Iranians could also use speedboats to attach limpet mines to the hulls of ships, which would be set to explode at a certain time, he added.
The Iranians can rapidly deploy all these mines “in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz using high-speed small boats equipped as minelayers”, the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) said in a 2019 report.
“Iran has equipped many of its Ashoora small boats with mine rails capable of holding at least one mine,” it added.
But, said the ex-navy official, you could also convert another small boat to do the job more discreetly.
Have they been used before?
Tehran used deployed sea mines during its conflict with Iraq in the 1980s during the so-called “tanker war”, forcing the United States to escort commercial ships.
During the Gulf War in 1991, Iraqi forces deployed 1,300 mines, badly damaging two US Navy ships, including the USS Princeton, which it cost about $100 million to bring back online, according to US researcher Scott Truver, who has taught at the Naval War College.
“It took the multinational coalition forces more than two years of intensive mine-countermeasure operations to declare the northern gulf mine free,” he wrote in 2012.
What of demining?
Western nations have the means to demine the Strait of Hormuz should it be necessary, but such an operation would be long and complicated.
In January, the United States withdrew from service four Avenger-class mine hunters based in the Gulf state of Bahrain.
They are to be replaced by the same number of combat ships equipped with mine countermeasure capabilities, but not designed for that purpose.
“Strategically placed sea mines could become the Achilles heel of US naval operations,” the Centre for Maritime Strategy said last year, warning Iran, but also China and Russia, had acquired the cheap munition.
Yet “the navy is dismantling its already-limited mine countermeasures capability without fielding proven replacements,” it added.
Tenenbaum, of IFRI, said European capabilities were superior to those of the United States, but still “totally inadequate to confront this threat today”.
Britain in December withdrew the last of the four mine hunters it had stationed in the Gulf since 2003.
France only has eight such specialised ships, down from 13 previously. They have not been sent to the Gulf in a while.
Belgium and the Netherlands are considered to be experts in the field, but are still waiting for a delivery of state-of-the-art ships to deploy mine-seeking drones to identify and defuse sea mines at a safe distance.
As for Gulf countries, they do have demining scuba divers, the former navy officer said.
“But to neutralise mines, you have to find them first,” he said.
- Plan aims at “Israel’s air superiority”: defence minister.
- Netanyahu vows to increase defence budget to $118bn.
- Israel to make “blue-and-white” groundbreaking aircraft: PM.
Israel on Sunday approved a multi-billion-dollar deal to acquire two combat squadrons of fighter jets from the United States, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it would “reinforce” its air superiority.
The purchase includes a squadron of F-35 multi-role stealth fighters from Lockheed Martin and another of F-15IA warplanes from Boeing, Israel’s defence ministry said.
The plan aims to “ensure Israel’s air superiority for decades to come,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“The F-35 and F-15IA acquisitions are central to the ‘Shield of Israel’ plan, which is designed to give the IDF (Israeli military) a lasting qualitative edge,” he said.
The F-35, a joint project between the United States and a number of allies, is one of the world’s most advanced military aircraft. Israel already operates several dozen of the jets.
Netanyahu said it would bolster Israel’s “overwhelming air superiority” but pledged to start building its own weapons and fighter planes.
“Our pilots can reach anywhere in the skies of Iran and are ready to do so, if needed,” he said.
“Over the next decade, we will add 350 billion shekels ($118 billion) to the defence budget in order to manufacture such weaponry in Israel and not be dependent on foreign suppliers,” he said.
“At the same time, we will develop ‘blue-and-white’ groundbreaking aircraft. This will change the entire picture,” he said, using a term for products developed in Israel.
Israel’s air force played a central role in the war in Gaza, carrying out one of the most intense aerial bombardment campaigns in recent history.
Thousands of strikes targeted what Israel said were Hamas positions, including tunnels, command centres and rocket launch sites, but vast areas of the densely populated territory were devastated, including homes, hospitals and schools.
Israel has also fought two wars against Iran in less than a year, during which its air power has been used for long-range strikes deep inside Iranian territory.
Israel recently approved its 2026 budget, which includes an increase in defence spending of billions of dollars.
Israel’s military spending has steadily increased since the war in Gaza began.
- Iranian envoy describes Islamabad’s efforts as “valuable”.
- Tehran transparent in its demands: Ambassador Moghadam.
- Says Washington must abandon its “aggressive posture”.
Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam on Sunday said Islamabad continues to serve as a central mediator in Iran’s negotiations with the United States.
“Pakistan remains a mediator, and no decision has been made to alter this,” the envoy said in an interview with an Iranian news agency, adding that progress in talks depends on a shift in Washington’s approach.
His comments came a day after US President Donald Trump cast doubt over the prospects of a new Iranian peace proposal.
Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported on Saturday that Tehran submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Islamabad.
Details included ending the conflict on all fronts and enacting a new framework for the crucial Strait of Hormuz, Tasnim said.
Ambassador Moghadam confirmed the same in today’s interview, saying Iran had conveyed a new negotiation plan to Washington via Pakistan.
He described Islamabad’s efforts in the negotiations process as “valuable” and central to the current diplomatic outreach.
Ambassador Moghadam maintained that Tehran was “transparent in its position and demands”, saying any meaningful progress was conditional on a change in US behaviour.
He stressed that Tehran would not compromise on its national interests or defence.
Talks between Iran and the US have remained stalled since the April 8 ceasefire, after a round of peace negotiations, held in Islamabad, failed to resolve the conflict.
The Pakistani government helped broker the ceasefire in the six-week conflict, which erupted after US and Israeli forces launched joint attacks on Iran on February 28.
The Middle East war has had a severe impact on the global economy after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy shipping route.
Tehran briefly reopened the strait for commercial traffic but closed it again, citing US ceasefire violations and the continued naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Meanwhile, the Iranian ambassador said that the international community was observing Tehran’s “clear and logical stance”, while criticising what he described as inconsistency in US policy.
Reaffirming Iran’s commitment to diplomacy, he said that Washington must abandon its “aggressive posture” and respect Iran’s rights for negotiations to move forward.
Ambassador Moghadam also highlighted growing political, economic and trade ties between Pakistan and Iran, noting that border crossings between the two nations played a crucial role in bilateral trade and regional connectivity.
Two young women believed to be of Sudanese origin died Sunday while trying to reach Britain from northern France in a small boat, officials said.
The women, aged about 20, were aboard a small boat carrying 82 people, Christophe Marx, a regional government official, told reporters.
The boat set out to sea during the night from Saturday to Sunday, but “the engine wouldn’t start” and the boat began to drift, Marx said.
Seventeen people were rescued at sea and taken to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
The boat with the remaining 65 people on board eventually ran aground on a beach near Neufchatel-Hardelot, about 12 kilometres (seven miles) south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, he said, adding that the victims had been found “dead inside the boat”.
Thirteen people with moderate injuries and three others with serious wounds, including burn victims, were taken to the hospital.
They were “being treated and will be interviewed by border police to determine who is responsible for this crossing”, Marx said.
He said an investigation would confirm the nationality of the victims. This is the third such tragedy in just over a month at the French-British border.
On April 1, two migrants died off the coast of Gravelines in northern France while attempting to reach the United Kingdom.
On April 9, two men and two women died, swept away by the currents.
In 2025, at least 29 migrants died at sea in the region, according to an AFP tally based on official French and British sources.
Britain and France last month signed a new three-year deal on security operations to stop the crossings.
France will increase the number of police and gendarmes patrolling the coast while the British government will increase its contribution to the cost.
According to French officials, the number of arrivals in Britain so far this year has been drastically cut from 2025.
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