Navy

Just a few mines could bring Strait of Hormuz to a standstill, warns Dutch officer

How Western navies would tackle a mine threat in the Strait of Hormuz

Iran has threatened to mine the Strait of Hormuz, raising the prospect of major disruption to Western shipping through the narrow stretch of water.

Rosie Laydon, reporting after a recent trip onboard a Dutch minehunter, said one of the ship's officers described mines as a highly effective weapon, particularly in confined waters such as the Strait of Hormuz.

Lieutenant Hidde of HNLMS Scheidam said: "It's really easy to deploy mines. So if you throw a couple [of] mines in the water, all the shipping is done for, nobody wants to go through."

The vessel uses a range of high-tech systems to detect and identify possible mines on the seabed, including the autonomous Remus and the remotely operated Seafox, which can dive to 200 metres.

Dealing with Iranian mine threat in the Strait of Hormuz

Lt Hidde said the equipment is used to work out whether an object is a mine or something harmless.

He said: "We use it for identification of obstacles that we see on the sea bottom, so we can see if it's a mine or maybe it's a rock.

"We have someone that controls the drone and sends them down to the object, and we have a camera on it, and we can look through the camera in real time, in the object, which is in the water."

While Western forces have ways to counter the threat, the process of finding, tracking and defusing mines takes far longer than laying them in the first place, giving the weapon the potential to bring the Strait of Hormuz to a standstill.