Iran has deployed about a dozen mines in the Strait of Hormuz, two sources familiar with the matter said, in a move likely to complicate the reopening of the narrow waterway, an important route for shipping oil and liquefied natural gas.
Exports of oil and LNG through the strategic chokepoint along Iran’s coast have effectively been halted by the war launched 12 days ago by the United States and Israel, helping to drive a surge in world energy prices.
Iran’s military command on Wednesday said the world should be prepared for oil to hit $200 a barrel.
One source said the mines were deployed “in the last few days” and that most of their locations wereknown. But the source declined to say how the U.S. planned to deal with them.
CNN first reported the mining of the strait on Tuesday.
Iran has long threatened to retaliate against any military attack by mining the strait. About a fifth of global oil and LNG normally passes through the strait, and Tehran’s ability to stop shipping through the channel gives it enormous leverage over the U.S. and its allies.
The U.S. military says it has targeted Iranian mine-laying vessels, eliminating 16 of them on Tuesday. But the U.S. Navy has so far declined to provide protective escorts to commercial ships through the strait.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday demanded that Iran immediately remove any mines deployed in the strait and he said that it would face unspecified military consequences if it failed to do so.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Erin Banco; Editing by Don Durfee and Timothy Heritage)