The Navy plans to use underwater drones in the coming days as part of its new effort to clear Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command announced Saturday.
The strait is a critical maritime chokepoint for oil exported from the Middle East, and reopening it to more shipping traffic has been a top objective of President Donald Trump amid the shaky ceasefire between the United States and Iran that began a few days ago and paused Operation Epic Fury, the military name for the American war effort against Tehran that kicked off Feb. 28.
Last month, the New York Times reported that Iranian forces were using small boats to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz. On Friday, the outlet reported that the Iranians cannot locate all the mines they placed and lack the capacity to remove them, citing U.S. officials.
Centcom, which is overseeing Epic Fury and other American military efforts in the Middle East, announced in a press release Saturday that its forces had begun “setting conditions” for clearing the devices, stating that the guided missile destroyers USS Frank E. Peterson (DDG 121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) “transited the Strait of Hormuz and operated in the Arabian Gulf as part of a broader mission to ensure the strait is fully clear of sea mines previously laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.”
In a statement, Centcom commander Adm. Brad Cooper said: “Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce.”
The press release stated that additional U.S. forces, including “underwater drones,” will join the clearance effort “in the coming days.”
The release didn’t identify the unmanned underwater vehicles that will be involved.
In a post on Truth Social Sunday morning, Trump announced that he ordered the Navy to impose a blockage around the Strait of Hormuz, noting that Iranian negotiators who met with senior U.S. officials in Pakistan this weekend did not agree to American demands about Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz. At some point, we will reach an “ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT” basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, “There may be a mine out there somewhere,” that nobody knows about but them. THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted. I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!” he wrote.
On Sunday, Centcom announced that it planned to begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 a.m. ET, “in accordance with the President’s proclamation.”
“The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,” according to a Centcom press release.
“Additional information will be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice prior to the start of the blockade. All mariners are advised to monitor Notice to Mariners broadcasts and contact U.S. naval forces on bridge-to-bridge channel 16 when operating in the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz approaches,” per the release.
The Navy is investing in a variety of UUVs and other robotic systems as a means of increasing the sea service’s capacity and keeping sailors out of harm’s way.
One underwater drone that could potentially be employed for mine clearing operations in the Strait of Hormuz is the Knifefish, which was built by General Dynamics and is designed to be deployed off Littoral Combat Ships as part of the vessel’s mine countermeasure mission package.
“The Knifefish UUV provides the mine warfare commander with enhanced mine-hunting capability by detecting, classifying and identifying both buried mines and mines in high clutter environments,” according to a company website about the platform.
“Knifefish’s job is to detect, avoid and identify mine threats, reducing the risk to personnel by operating in the minefield as an off-board sensor while the host ship stays outside the minefield boundaries. Knifefish also gathers environmental data to provide intelligence support for other mine warfare systems,” per the website.
In 2023, the Navy declared that its new mine countermeasures mission package had reached initial operational capability,
“An integrated suite of unmanned maritime systems and sensors, the MCM MP counteracts mines in the littorals while increasing the host vessel’s standoff distance from the threat area. Embarked with the MCM MP, [a littoral combat ship] or a vessel of opportunity can conduct the full spectrum of detect-to-engage operations (hunt, neutralize, and sweep) against mine threats using sensors and weapons deployed from the MCM Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV), an MH-60S multi-mission helicopter, and associated support equipment,” the service said in a release at the time.
Last year, USNI News reported that the Navy had deployed the first two operational LCS mine countermeasure packages from San Diego with the USS Santa Barbara and USS Canberra.
A Centcom fact sheet on Epic Fury released a few days ago did not include Littoral Combat Ships among its list of assets that have played a role in the Iran war.
Updated on April 12, 2026, at 10:25 AM: This story has been updated to include comments from a social media post by President Donald Trump on Sunday morning.
Updated on April 13, 2026, at 9:45 AM: This story has been updated to include comments from U.S. Central Command about implementing a blockage.