The US ‘has no minesweepers’ in the Strait of Hormuz

News agency CNN Today, it was announced that the US Navy no longer has any specialized minesweeping ships deployed in the Gulf after eliminating four Avenger-class ships in September 2025, ending decades of their operation in the region. All four ships were brought back to the US for scrap metal in January, a few weeks before the Middle East conflict broke out.

This raises questions about US measures to deal with the risk of Iranian armed forces laying mines to completely block the Strait of Hormuz.

At the time of eliminating the four Avenger-class ships, Pentagon officials said the minesweeping task in the Gulf would be assigned to four littoral combat ships (LCS) expected to deploy to the area.

The US Navy announced that the LCS force is designed to perform two key missions, with two interchangeable equipment and software packages, including surface warfare and mine countermeasures. LCS is also considered a warship with a modern design, cheap, flexible and optimal for the task of patrolling shallow waters near the shore, with bustling maritime traffic such as in the Middle East.

However, the LCS force encountered a series of technical and reliability problems, as well as lacking weapons to carry out their missions and being vulnerable to enemy shore defense fire. This caused the US Navy to only receive 38 ships, instead of 56 as planned, and eliminated 7 ships after only a few years of use.

Before the US launched its campaign against Iran, CNN’s tracking data showed that there were 3 LCSs present in the Persian Gulf area. “Deploying LCS ships in the Strait of Hormuz is more about promoting image than achieving practical effects,” commented former US Navy colonel Carl Schuster.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) earlier this month announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and warned that it would attack vehicles passing through this vital maritime route, a move that caused oil prices to fluctuate sharply because shipping activities were almost stagnant. IRGC on March 9 warned that the Middle East will not be able to export “even one liter of oil” if the US and Israel continue to attack their country.

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine said that units in the Middle East will consider a series of options for escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz if ordered. However, the US Navy has so far refused requests from the shipping industry to escort cargo ships through this maritime route, according to US sources. Reuters.

On March 10, CNN quoted two sources familiar with US intelligence information as saying that Iran had begun laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Central Command (CENTCOM), the agency in charge of US military operations in the Middle East, later announced that it had destroyed many Iranian naval ships near the Strait of Hormuz, including 16 minelaying ships.

US President Donald Trump said on the same day that he had not received any reports of the above information, affirming that the US military had completely destroyed 10 decommissioned Iranian mine boats. “If they have laid mines, they must immediately remove them, otherwise Iran will suffer military consequences at an unprecedented level,” he warned.