Iran has reportedly lost track of all the naval mines it deployed in the Strait of Hormuz, which has prevented the country from reopening the shipping lane, according to US officials.
The country has been unable to find and remove them.
The development is one of the reasons Iran has not been able to comply with the Trump administration's warnings to let more ships through to the strait, The New York Times reported.
US officials say that Iran mined the Strait haphazardly.
The country did not systematically track the placements of the mines,and in some cases the deployed them in ways that they drifted away from their original positions.
Tehran had used small boats to mine the strait in March after the war began. The IRGC issued a warning to ships that they could collide with sea mines.
Removing nautical mines is far more difficult than placing the. The US military lacks robust mine removal capabilities and relies on littoral combat ships quipped with mine sweeping capabilities. Iran also lacks the same.
On Wednesday, Iran’s foreign minister said that the strait would be open to traffic with due consideration to technical limits.
American officials have said that the FM’s comment on the limitations was about Iran's inability to find and remove the mines that they deployed.
The US military had previously also sought to destroy Iran’s navy by sinking ships and targeting its naval bases. However, Iran has hundreds of small boats that it could use to lay mines and destroying all of them has been proven impossible. After Iran began mining the strait after the war began, American officials had said that the country was not planting mines quickly or efficiently.
US officials had also estimated the country possesses between 2000 and 6000 naval mines, CBS reported.
Abbas Araghchi is currently in Islamabad for meetings on Sunday with JD Vance.
The mines are likely to be a point of discussion on the main issue of reopening the Strait.
The US is currently uncertain precisely on how many mines Iran has placed in the Strait and where they are located.
