The American CENTCOM commander claims that the Strait of Hormuz is free of mines despite the attacks of the Revolutionary Guards fleet. The head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), Admiral Brad Cooper, claimed that the main internationally recognized shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz are completely free of Iranian sea mines and that commercial maritime traffic passes without interruption. In a video message released by CENTCOM after a test flight over the strategic waterway, Cooper claimed that US forces had eliminated Iranian naval capabilities in the area, and claimed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy was "all on the seabed" while conducting continuous US Navy assets to maintain clearance in the main transit corridors. These claims directly contradict the operational reality on the ground, which came just hours after the Revolutionary Guards Navy released video clips documenting two commercial oil tankers that caught fire and were attacked in the eastern and western sectors of the Strait. Iranian naval commanders confirmed that the offending vessels were intercepted in the southern waters of the choke point after they attacked their automatic identification systems (AIS) to navigate unauthorized routes under direct US military escort. IRGC units successfully breached the US security perimeter using high-speed defensive equipment to deploy tactical mines directly onto the hulls of the two tanks, forcing them to the ground.

The American CENTCOM commander claims that the Strait of Hormuz is free of mines despite the attacks of the Revolutionary Guards fleet. The head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), Admiral Brad Cooper, claimed that the main internationally recognized shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz are completely free of Iranian sea mines and that commercial maritime traffic passes without interruption. In a video message released by CENTCOM after a test flight over the strategic waterway, Cooper claimed that US forces had eliminated Iranian naval capabilities in the area, and claimed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy was "all on the seabed" while conducting continuous US Navy assets to maintain clearance in the main transit corridors. These claims directly contradict the operational reality on the ground, which came just hours after the Revolutionary Guards Navy released video clips documenting two commercial oil tankers that caught fire and were attacked in the eastern and western sectors of the Strait. Iranian naval commanders confirmed that the offending vessels were intercepted in the southern waters of the choke point after they attacked their automatic identification systems (AIS) to navigate unauthorized routes under direct US military escort. IRGC units successfully breached the US security perimeter using high-speed defensive equipment to deploy tactical mines directly onto the hulls of the two tanks, forcing them to the ground.