ISTANBUL, Turkiye: The United States (US) military’s Central Command said Thursday (Aug. 27) that internationally recognised shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz are open after American forces cleared sea mines from the waterway, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
“We have successfully cleared sea mines in the Strait’s international shipping lanes that were laid months ago by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said in a video on US social media company X.
“Internationally recognised transit routes in the Strait are free of Iranian sea mines.”
Cooper said US forces used Navy divers, Navy SEALs and aircraft from the army, navy, air force and Marine Corps to clear the lanes.
“Bottom line, today, international shipping lanes are open and momentum is building,” he said.
He said US forces assisted nearly 1,500 commercial vessels in transiting the strait in the last several months, carrying nearly 750 million barrels of crude oil to global markets.
Cooper also said that since the US resumed its naval blockade in July, no ships had entered or left Iranian ports without American permission, except for vessels allowed to pass on humanitarian grounds.
He said the US turned around 75 vessels attempting to run the blockade and disabled three that did not comply with directions.
The Strait of Hormuz is a major international shipping route connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
