On board the RFA Lyme Bay moored at coast of Gibraltarhundreds of British sailors are waiting to be deployed for a mine clearance mission At Strait of Hormuz it’s still uncertain.
American President Donald Trump has criticized its allies for not doing more to support the U.S. war effort in Iran, whose stranglehold on the strait has crippled international shipping and sent energy prices soaring. In March, Trump said NATO allies to “go get their own oil” and secure the strait themselves.
At the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, in the British Overseas Territory from Gibraltar, United Kingdom Royal Navy is preparing to do so – but only once a peace agreement has been reached. Trump said Saturday that a deal with Iran had been “largely negotiated” after calls with Israel and other regional allies, but had yet to be finalized.
UK Armed Forces Minister Al Carns took a small group of journalists to tour FRG Lyme Bay as it prepares for a possible international operation, led by the UK and France, to secure the strait. As Carns spoke, the amphibious landing ship, docked at the edge of the Mediterranean, was loaded with munitions and sonar-equipped mine-hunting marine drones.
With a crew of several hundred sailors, RFA Lyme Bay will soon leave Gibraltar to join the British destroyer HMS Dragon and allied ships for air support before crossing the Suez Canal to the Persian Gulf.
“What other country can bring together 40 nations and come up with a solution to solve a complex problem that we couldn’t predict because we weren’t involved?” Carns asked, responding to a question from The Associated Press about what Trump wants from his British ally.
After the United States and Israel launched war on February 28, Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the strait, a critical waterway for the region’s oil, natural gas and fertilizers, causing global economic hardship. The United Kingdom in particular has drawn the ire of Trump, who has called the British navy “toys” and Prime Minister Keir Starmer “not Winston Churchill.”
At least 6,000 ships have been blocked from crossing the strait since the conflict began, Carns said.
Iranian mines could pose a range of threats
Iran could have a “wide” variety of mines throughout the strait, said Cmdr. Gemma Britton, Head of the Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group. Mines could be rocket-propelled, hard-wired or laid on the seabed and triggered by sound, movement or light.
AP has discovered autonomous systems that can scan the seafloor and water with sonar in about half the time it takes for a crewed ship to enter and map potential hazards. Marine drones equipped with sonar produce an image of objects underwater, from fishing traps to pipelines. The image is used to identify mines that can be explored with advanced acoustic systems and cameras, Britton said.
Some of RFA Lyme Bay’s systems can be loaded onto a smaller ship that can be launched and piloted autonomously from the ship, which acts as a mother ship, waiting outside any potential minefields, Britton said. This reduces the number of people needed to enter, she said.
Once a mine has been located, a diver equipped with explosives normally places a charge on the mine before swimming away to detonate it. But RFA Lyme Bay is testing a remotely operated vehicle that dives and drops a charge near a mine before setting it off, Britton said.
The priority, she said, will be to clear a transit route in the strait to allow the departure of around 700 ships. A lane traveling in the opposite direction will then be cleared, allowing ships to enter, she explained, but added that clearing the entire strait could take months or even years.
It is still unclear whether the UK and its allies will be deployed
It remains unclear whether there are mines in the strait – or whether the UK and its allies will deploy to remove them.
A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters told the AP that the United States has not found or destroyed any mines in the strait, and no ships have been damaged. Commercial traffic continued to flow quietly, although at a much lower volume than before the conflict.
When asked by the AP whether the British efforts were in part just a show, to curry favor with the United States, Carns said he was sure some mines had exploded or been floating, but that such assurance was not enough for commercial insurance companies. He said these companies need “absolute certainty” so ships can cross the strait again.
“That’s what this capability will bring,” he said.
The international effort to secure the strait would only take place once hostilities had ended.
“The final aspects and details of the agreement are currently being discussed and will be announced shortly,” Trump said on social media on Saturday, without any details on the timeline.
This is not the first time in recent weeks that a deal has been called a done deal.
“We don’t know when the Americans, the Iranians and the Israelis will find an appropriate solution,” Carns said.
In the meantime, the RFA Lyme Bay and its crew will be waiting and will be “really, really ready,” Carns said.
