The US on Saturday (April 11, 2026) sent two of its warships to cross the Strait of Hormuz to carry out demining operations, even as Iran threatened to target the vessels within 30 minutes.
The US Navy warships transited the Strait of Hormuz, even as an American delegation led by Vice President JD Vance was holding peace talks with an Iranian team in Islamabad.
The two American warships also started clearing the narrow waterway of Iranian-laid mines, taking Tehran by surprise, resulting in a threat to blow up the two US Navy ships within 30 minutes.
On Tuesday (April 7), the US and Iran announced a two-week ceasefire to allow for negotiations to find a peaceful solution to the West Asian war. However, the talks on Saturday (April 11), mediated by Pakistan, failed miserably without any agreement.
As the talks were progressing, the US Central Command claimed its two warships were clearing the sea mines laid by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. However, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) rejected this claim and threatened to deal with the warships “severely”.
This was the first announcement of a US ship transit through the Strait of Hormuz since the West Asia war began on February 28. The ceasefire announcement earlier in the week included safe passage for maritime traffic through the Hormuz.
Before the US Central Command announcement, Trump said Washington had started “clearing out” the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil passes.
“Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage, and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce,” said CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper.
The USS Frank E. Peterson and the USS Michael Murphy are the guided-missile destroyers involved in the operation, but CENTCOM said that “additional US forces, including underwater drones,” could join the effort in the coming days.
Iran “strongly rejected” Washington’s claims that US vessels entered the strait, military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari told state TV.
“The initiative for the passage of any vessel lies with the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he was quoted as saying.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB later quoted the Revolutionary Guards’ Navy Command as saying: “Any attempt by military vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz will be dealt with severely.”
It added that passage of the strait would only be “granted to civilian vessels under specific conditions.”
Trump had called the “clearing out” of Hormuz “a favor” to countries such as China, Japan, and France that “don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves.”
The only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may ‘bunk’ into one of their sea mines,” Trump wrote.
Iran conveyed via Pakistan that “if the vessel continues, it will be targeted within 30 minutes, and Iran–US talks will be impacted.”