Trump says US begins clearing mines in Hormuz Strait as Navy vessels pass through

In his post, Trump wrote that the “fake news media has lost total credibility,” because of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” they like to say that Iran is “winning.”

The US leader says this is not the case, and that in fact Iran is losing and “losing big.”

“Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft apparatus is nonexistent, Radar is dead, their Missile and Drone Factories have been largely obliterated along with the Missiles and Drones themselves and, most importantly, their longtime “Leaders” are no longer with us, praise be to Allah!” Trump writes.

According to him, the only thing Iran has left is the threat that a ship could “bunk” one of the sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump added that all 28 of Tehran’s minesweepers are already at the bottom of the sea.

“We're ​now starting the process of clearing ​out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to сountries all over the цorld, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others. Incredibly, they don’t have the сourage or will to do this work themselves. Very interestingly, however, empty oil carrying ships from many nations are all heading to the United States of America to load up with oil,” the president said.

Meanwhile, Axios journalist Barak Ravid writes that, according to his source, several US Navy ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz today.

“The move was not coordinated with Iran. This is the first time US warships have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since the war began,” he added.

It is unclear which specific ships entered. A day earlier, Trump said that within 24 hours, an assessment of the negotiations with Iran would be given. He added that the United States is preparing for a negative scenario and its ships are receiving new weapons in case diplomacy fails.

Updated

Journalist Barak Ravid posted another update. His source reported that US warships crossed the Strait of Hormuz from east to west, entering the Persian Gulf, and then returned eastward through the strait into the Arabian Sea.

“This was an operation focused on freedom of navigation through international waters,” said a US official.

Opening of the Strait of Hormuz

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran in exchange for opening the Strait of Hormuz. During this time, the parties are to reach a final agreement.

Judging by media reports, Iran opened the strait but soon closed it after Israel carried out airstrikes on Lebanon. Although, according to Pakistan — a mediator in the negotiations — the ceasefire also applied to this territory.

The New York Times reported that one of the reasons why Iran is not opening the strait is that the country cannot detect its own mines and cannot neutralize them.