Iran cannot fully open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping because it does not know the exact location of its own naval mines.
This is reported by The New York Times.
According to sources, the Iranian military is not only unable to find some of the mines, but also lacks the capabilities to quickly defuse them. Some of them can also drift, meaning they can change location on their own.
This is probably what is preventing Iran from fulfilling US demands to open the strait to a greater flow of ships. The day before, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the movement of ships would be resumed "taking into account technical limitations". Washington believes that the problem was precisely the problem with mines.
The Strait of Hormuz was mined back in March, after the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran. Small vessels were used for this purpose.
At the same time, Iran has partially opened the strait only to certain ships — including those that pay tolls in bitcoins. Before the war, passage there was free.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also warned about the risk of ships colliding with mines and published routes they considered safer.
War in the Middle East and negotiations between Iran and the US
On the morning of February 28, the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran. Iranʼs Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and almost the entire military leadership of the country — about 40 key high-ranking officials — were killed.
Iran, in response to the US and Israeli attacks, began shelling Arab countries and Israel. The war also halted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which almost a fifth of the worldʼs oil exports passed. This led to a sharp increase in oil and gas prices.
On the night of April 8, Trump wrote that he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran. Later, Iran published a 10-point peace plan: under it, the parties would cease hostilities, the US would withdraw troops from the Middle East and would no longer attack Iranian bases, and ships would have limited access to the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks.
Iran would also be required to lift primary and secondary sanctions and compensate for losses. Iran would commit not to developing nuclear weapons, and the US would recognize Iranʼs right to enrich uranium.
But on the afternoon of April 8, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said that ceasefire violations had been recorded in several places in the conflict zone in the Middle East. Reuters sources reported that Iran had struck the East-West oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, which is currently the only channel for exporting crude oil from the country, and other facilities. Before that, Iran announced an American attack on the refinery on Laban Island and threatened to respond.
Amidst Israelʼs attacks on Lebanon, Iran suspended ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Although media outlets previously reported, citing data from the ship tracking service MarineTraffic, that at least two ships had passed through safely on the morning of April 8.
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