·
·
World
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Tuesday that reopening the Strait of Hormuz for navigation does not require the removal of all naval mines that Iran is believed to have planted, noting that establishing a "safe passage" for ships may be sufficient to resume transit traffic.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Tuesday that reopening the Strait of Hormuz for navigation does not require the removal of all naval mines that Iran is believed to have planted, noting that establishing a "safe passage" for ships may be sufficient to resume transit traffic.
Wright clarified, in remarks he made on the sidelines of the "Three Seas" summit and business conference in the city of Dubrovnik, that "it only requires a path through which ships can move back and forth, and that could happen quickly," according to Bloomberg.
The US Department of Defense estimated that demining the Strait of Hormuz would take up to six months, which would affect global oil prices, according to The Washington Post.
The newspaper quoted three Department of Defense officials as saying that "members of Congress were informed that Iran may have planted twenty mines or more in and around the Strait of Hormuz."
According to a classified presentation by Department of Defense officials, a number of these mines were laid using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology, which increases the difficulty of detecting them, while others were laid using small boats.
The Revolutionary Guard had warned in mid-April of a "dangerous zone" with an area of 1400 square kilometers in the waters of the Strait.
Countries not involved in the conflict have expressed their readiness to carry out a mission to secure the Strait if an agreement is reached to end the war that erupted on February 28 with an American-Israeli attack on Iran.
