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For the second time in a week, United States President Donald Trump on August 25 declared that all mines in the Strait of Hormuz have been detonated or removed.
“I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
While Trump’s post suggested that this was a new development, he made a nearly identical claim a little over a week earlier.
In his latest tweet, U.S. President Trump added, “Iran has been notified that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed. Through space force, we are watching every square inch of the strait, as we are, also, with Pickaxe Mountain and the already destroyed three other nuclear sites.”
“There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect,” he warned.
Pickaxe Mountain is the nickname analysts have given to Kolang Gaz La, a mountain located just east of Iran’s Natanz nuclear complex in Isfahan province, believed to house a deeply buried tunnel network built to protect nuclear infrastructure from potential strikes.
Trump’s latest warning came a day after the U.S. launched “Operation Economic Outcast,” a sweeping campaign intended to completely isolate Iran from the global financial system.
Earlier on August 25, Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that a “humanitarian crisis” was developing in the Islamic Republic.
“The failing Islamic Republic of Iran is not paying large segments of their military, while at the same time killing protesters, even when they are not protesting, at levels not seen before,” the U.S. president wrote.
“It is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, and must be stopped,” he added.
Around the same time the so-called economic operation was announced, an oil tanker was targeted near the Strait of Hormuz, in an attack that cemented the Islamic Republic’s control over the strategic waterway—a chokepoint for around 20 percent of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
Despite Trump’s latest warnings, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told counterparts around the world that Washington does not currently expect to carry out new offensive strikes against Iran, as the Trump administration shifts its focus toward economic pressure and securing the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report from Israel’s Channel 12.
Rubio did not rule out U.S. military action if Iran initiates new hostilities, two sources familiar with the conversation told the news channel.
In another sign of de-escalation, Iran and Oman announced in a joint statement that they had today discussed a framework to open a temporary joint shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz, alongside a joint project to clear mines in the crucial pathway for oil and gas.
The Farsi-language statement, shared by Oman’s foreign ministry, followed a meeting between Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi and his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in Tehran on August 25.
“The two Ministers discussed a phased framework” that includes “the establishment of a joint temporary navigational corridor through the Strait of Hormuz and an agreement to implement a joint project to clear the Strait of mines,” reads the statement, adding that “technical negotiations” for a permanent solution would continue between the sides.
Both ministers “also emphasized the importance of holding joint talks with neighboring countries bordering the waters of the Persian Gulf” on the matter, the statement adds.
The recent developments show that the major contradictions that became the hallmark of this war persist, with the Trump administration following the same passive/aggressive policy towards Iran. The war does not appear to be nearing its end, but a return to fighting also seems unlikely.
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