U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the State Department’s fiscal year 2027 budget at the Capitol on June 2, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski AFP | Getty Images
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Iran has dug land mines in “large parts” of the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that explosives in the strategic sea lane are more widespread than previously acknowledged.
“They’re shelling commercial ships, they’re digging mines in large parts of the international waters in Hormuz,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in his first appearance before Congress since the US and Israel began their war on Iran on February 28.
The secretary of state said any deal with the United States would require Iran to agree not to impose tolls on passage through Hormuz, not to fire on commercial ships and to cooperate in clearing mines it has laid in the strait.
“What they’re doing is illegal and illegal,” Rubio told the Senate.
Hormuz is an important checkpoint for the world energy market, and before the war, approximately 20% of the world’s oil supply passed through the sea lanes. Iranian threats have sharply reduced oil tanker traffic through the strait, causing the largest supply disruption in history.
President Donald Trump questioned Iran’s deployment of land mines early in the war. In a post on Truth Social on March 10, President Trump warned Iran that any land mines it plants in Hormuz must be removed immediately. In response to questions from reporters outside the White House the next day, the president said he did not believe Iran had dug land mines in the strait.
On April 23, President Trump announced that he had ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill” ships laying mines in the Strait. He said US minesweepers were “sweeping the straits” at an accelerated tempo.
But more than a month after President Trump’s remarks, Iran’s mines remain a major challenge to reopening large-scale commercial traffic. Explosives were being removed. The president on Friday called on Iran to “complete the immediate removal and/or detonation of landmines” that the United States has not yet removed.
Jack Kennedy, head of Middle East country risk at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said it remains unclear how many mines there are in Hormuz and where they are located along the sea lanes. President Kennedy said traffic through Hormuz was unlikely to return to pre-war levels until there was a robust demining operation.
The White House did not respond to questions about how many landmines are thought to remain on Hormuz Island. A White House official told CNBC that the Pentagon destroyed numerous mines and more than 40 minelayers.
“The president has been clear that these are short-term, temporary disruptions,” the official said.
