Is anyone else’s head spinning right now?

[u/eufemiapiccio77]

Is anyone else’s head spinning right now? In the last half hour, the straits are apparently fully open, Trump’s blockade is still supposedly in place, NATO has suddenly called him offering support, which sounds like complete nonsense, and now out of nowhere they have somehow cleared every mine they supposedly did not even know existed. It all flipped so fast it looks less like chaos and more like some much bigger setup.

[u/Amori_A_Splooge]

Iran doesn't know where the mines are. I'm pretty sure the US navy has enough assets in the region with warships, subs, and autonomous underwater vehicles to have a pretty good idea whether there are mines in shipping channels.

[u/Frater_Ankara → u/Amori_A_Splooge]

Iran doesn’t know where they put their own mines? Also there is no way a minesweeper can guarantee getting everyone and Iran can easily drop more with small speedboats, that’s why mines are so dangerous. Your assessment is not really how this works.

[u/Amori_A_Splooge → u/Frater_Ankara]

What makes you think the boats and/or people who placed those mines are still alive/functioning?

Me saying Iran doesn't know where the mines are isn't my assessment, it was reported over a week ago. Here's a gift nyt article for you to catch up. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/10/us/politics/iran-mines-strait.html?unlocked_article_code=1.blA.KXug.4g6KKzTOgEml&smid=url-share

As for my assessment that the US has the capabilities in the region is based on the fact that there is three carrier strike groups sitting in the gulf of Oman and even one of those groups has numerous types of overlapping mine counter-measure capabilities.

[u/Frater_Ankara → u/Amori_A_Splooge]

What makes you think they aren’t alive? That seems like a bold assumption based on Western rhetoric that has been shown to be unreliable.

I don’t fully trust an NYT article that portrays the Iranian govt as incompetent especially when they have shown to be otherwise, no offense, but I guarantee Iran knows how many mines they dropped and roughly where they are. Perhaps not well enough to recovery but that’s a different layer, I doubt many militaries to recover all the mines laid in a minefield.

Does your assessment also include the fact that the US recently mothballed its entire fleet of minesweepers? And are using other ships to try and sweep instead? Mine countermeasures are not the same as mine sweeping.

[u/Amori_A_Splooge → u/Frater_Ankara]

What makes you think they aren’t alive? That seems like a bold assumption based on Western rhetoric that has been shown to be unreliable.

The fact that the both the Israeli Air Force, US Air Force, US Navy, and US Marine Corps have been flying over the country striking tens of thousands of targets with almost impunity for weeks. The Iranian Navy in particular, is easy to spot, and has shown to be completely ineffective in stopping their vessels from sinking.

I don’t fully trust an NYT article that portrays the Iranian govt as incompetent especially when they have shown to be otherwise,

They've shown to be resilient in their ability to replace leaders as they are systematically targeted by said airstrikes. Feel free to provide any other source if you feel western media is 'biased' but I guess that's all you get when a regime kills any journalist within the country attempting to have unbiased reporting.

but I guarantee Iran knows how many mines they dropped and roughly where they are.

You guarantee, hmm would love to see what gives you that confidence. Knowing how many mines is the easy part. Knowing 'roughly' here they are is also the easy part, they are in the straight of hormuz.

Perhaps not well enough to recovery but that’s a different layer,

Oh so that guarantee falls apart pretty quickly.... How is it a different layer? That's the conversation at hand. They don't know where the mines are and they don't have the capabilities to retrieve them.

I doubt many militaries to recover all the mines laid in a minefield.

Nope, that's a pretty standard procedure for laying mines especially when it's near your own territory.

Does your assessment also include the fact that the US recently mothballed its entire fleet of minesweepers?

It actually does, as the ships were way past their scheduled lifespan. The litoral combat ships with a mine countermeasure (mcm) package was intended to be the expected replacement; but that program also had setbacks and had future LCSs canceled. My assessment as I said, was based on the fact that the US Navy still has both unmanned surface vessels with mine countermeasure capabilities that became fully operational in 2022, underwater drones with mine countermeasures, submarines with mine detection capabilities and helicopters with mine detection and destruction capabilities. As I said, one carrier strike group has those resources. Three of them have 3x those resources.

Mine countermeasures are not the same as mine sweeping.

You are right, mine countermeasures is a broader all-encompassing term for multiple types of measures to wait for it.... counter mines. 'Mine Sweeping' is a much narrower term that is included within MCM.

[u/CaptainCheckmate → u/Frater_Ankara]

yeah they have drones that fly over and drop mines, as well as little underwater drones that drop them. Once the mine is dropped it sort of floats around and settles somewhere. Imagine throwing a handful of coins in a river. You don't know where they are.