Trump says the US has swept Strait of Hormuz for mines

US President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that the United States Navy controls the Strait of Hormuz and has conducted a full mine sweep of the critical oil shipping lane. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump stated, "The only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the United States Navy." He added, "We've mine-swept the entire strait."

According to shipping data, the number of vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to six on that day, compared to an average of about 11 ships over a 10-day period. The incident occurred as hopes for a peace agreement between the United States and Iran were waning. Four ships, including two empty oil product tankers, entered the waterway, while two vessels - a small tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas and another with residual fuels - exited, according to data from Kpler.

In peacetime, between 130 to 140 ships typically traversed the strait, but on Monday, only 25 vessels passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea, a figure not significantly different from the 10-day average of nearly 24 ships. Last week, while signing an executive order in the White House, Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz "sort of open," noting the presence of a "blockade" led by the US Navy and asserting U.S. control over the waterway.

He cautioned, "They can always shoot something. They always have something or drop a mine, and if you have one mine sitting out there, you sort of mess things up because people don't want to take their billion-dollar boats and accidentally get hit by a mine."