April 13, 2026
Mined and Blockaded: Iran’s Unlawful Mining and the U.S. Port Blockade
This article was originally published in Just Security.
Iran reportedly mined the Strait of Hormuz, appears to have lost track of the mines, and now cannot easily remove them. That reality helps explain why diplomatic efforts in Islamabad struggled and may have been doomed to fail from the start. No single nation can reopen one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes on any meaningful timeline.
As I discuss below, whether the United States carries out the blockade in a legal manner will affect, among other things, allied States’ willingness to participate and the overall effectiveness of the blockade.
As negotiations collapsed, the U.S. made its own strategic blunder when President Trump announced that the U.S. Navy would begin “blockading any and all ships trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz” and would “seek and interdict every vessel in international waters that has paid a toll to Iran.” Thankfully, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) walked back that announcement, clarifying Sunday night that the U.S. Navy is not blockading the Strait, but is intending to block all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports, a restriction that begins Monday morning (10 a.m. ET).
Read the full article in Just Security.
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