Pentagon Reportedly Warned Will Take Six Months to Clear Strait of Hormuz of Iranian Mines

CNN reported on Thursday that a Pentagon official told lawmakers on Capitol Hill in a classified briefing that it could take up to six months to clear the Strait of Hormuz from mines laid by Iran.

Anchor Brianna Keilar brought on Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) to discuss the reporting.

“As the president is making these threats against Iranian mine boats, talking about shooting and killing them, the Pentagon briefed lawmakers on House Armed Services Tuesday on an intel assessment where it says that it could take up to six months to fully clear the strait of mines after the war with Iran ends, which obviously it has not. Can you tell us more about the briefing? Is there more context to it than that?” Keilar asked Moulton, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee.

“No, I can’t talk about the classified briefing, but I’ll say this: President Trump is not only losing this war that he started, he’s losing the peace as well. I mean, it was just weeks ago that he demanded unconditional surrender from the Iranians,” Moulton replied, adding:

Unconditional surrender. And now he’s begging them to come back to the negotiating table so that he can work out some sort of deal to reopen the strait, a strait that was open before he started this war. And why does it matter? Because oil prices are going to continue to go up, Americans are going to continue to pay more at the pump as long as the strait is closed. So the Iranians, to be honest, have all the time in the world. They are in control right now. They control the straits, not the Americans. And that’s why Trump needs to find a way to bring this negotiation to a close so that they actually can reopen the strait and they can get to work demining, or whatever else they need to do to ensure safe passage of these ships.

Keilar followed up, “But even after — let’s say that this comes to an end, there is an agreement and nominally the strait is open — should we as Americans be prepared to deal for months with all of the things that come with the strait being essentially closed: the high gas prices, the high prices for other products, when you consider that fertilizer, so much of it is hung up there in the strait. Are we expecting a months-and-months-long hangover even once this is on paper resolved?”

“Brianna, I don’t think we’ve begun to see the economic effects of this closure. There are billions of dollars of damage to Gulf oil infrastructure that not only produces oil for export, but liquefied gas, some of which comes to America. And as you said, fertilizer that’s important for the rest of the world,” Moulton replied, adding:

A lot of the ships that left before the war are just getting to ports now because it takes several weeks for these ships to transit the ocean. That means that ships arriving today are still full, but soon we’re going to see ships arrive empty.

Ships that were supposed to go to the United States are already getting diverted to Asia, where there are shortages because it’s a shorter transit time, so those shortages have hit Asia sooner. So the economic disruption is going to continue for some time. And we do not even have a timeline from the president as to when he’s going to bring this war to a close, because he does not have a plan.

He never had a plan to fight the war. He clearly didn’t anticipate that they would close the strait. He actually sent the minesweepers that were in the Gulf over to Singapore just weeks before the war started, so he’s been waiting for them to come back, and he clearly has no plan to secure the peace, so this could go on for a very long time.

Axios reported on Thursday that Iran was continuing to place mines in the Strait this week, despite Trump’s threats and claims the U.S. “controls” the Strait.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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