US President Donald Trump has said that all mines have been detonated or removed from international waters in the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran has been told that any ship or boat placing new mines will be destroyed.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said the United States, through its Space Force, was watching "every square inch" of the Strait, a key waterway in the global energy supply chain.
"There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect," Trump said.
The US and Iran have not conducted air strikes on each other's militaries for weeks, but attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz have continued as the two sides vie for control of the narrow maritime passage.
Oil transits through the strait were at five million barrels per day on Monday, provisional data from shiptracker Vortexa showed, down from more than 20 million per day before the war or about one of every five barrels consumed worldwide.
Iran, Oman discuss framework
Meanwhile, Iran and Oman's foreign ministers have said they discussed a framework for a temporary corridor through the Strait of Hormuz and a mine-clearing project in the waterway, which both border.
The two countries have sought to regulate transit through the Strait of Hormuz, as written in the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, after the waterway became a flashpoint in the Middle East war.
Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi "discussed a phased framework that could provide a practical and implementable basis for moving forward" in talks in Tehran, a joint statement shared by Oman said.
The framework "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," the statement added.
Technical negotiations will continue to find a "permanent navigational corridor and future administration of the Strait, as well as a mechanism for information-sharing, traffic management, and the provision of relevant navigational and security services", it added.
Both sides said it was important to hold joint discussions with states bordering the waters of the Gulf.
