The United States conducted a covert four-month operation to clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz, deploying Navy SEAL divers, robotic boats and specialized underwater craft mostly at night, the Financial Times reported.
Citing people familiar with the operation, the newspaper said small teams of divers used inflatable boats while unmanned surface vessels and submersibles equipped with high-resolution sonar searched for explosives on the seabed.
Divers then approached detected mines to attach charges and destroy them, while robotic submersibles could also be used for detonation. No US casualties were reported in connection with the operation.
The mission began after Iran said it had laid mines in international and Omani waters following the start of the US-Israeli strikes in February.
Shipping executives and security advisers told the FT they were confident the southern part of the strait near Oman - where US forces have been directing vessels - had been cleared, but remained doubtful that the entire waterway was free of mines.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on August 31 that a supertanker caught fire and stopped after striking two naval mines while attempting to use what Iran calls an unauthorized route south of Hormuz.
Maritime authorities have reported no confirmed mine strikes during the conflict, and analysts told the FT that satellite imagery showed no clear evidence supporting Iran’s accounts about laying mines an that the only confirmed mine sighting was reported by a Pakistani survey vessel in May.
The US has warned it will attack vessels attempting to deploy new mines. Washington also said it struck Iranian rocket launchers on August 30 as they prepared to fire mines into the strait.
The possibility of new mines, combined with Iran’s missile and drone attacks on shipping, means clearing the seabed alone may not be sufficient to restore commercial traffic, the report said, adding that shipowners must also decide whether the US-protected route near Oman is safe enough to justify returning to the strait.
“There’s probably only about 30 million barrels of Iranian crude oil left that China hasn’t bought,” Bessent said. “So that will run out soon, and there will be no problem with China buying because they have no product.”
Bessent described the pressure campaign, dubbed “Operation Economic Outcast,” as the largest effort to isolate a country economically and said Washington intended to “asphyxiate” Iran’s ruling establishment.
“The blockade is working like nothing we’ve ever seen, and the combination - everyone says sanctions don’t work - but I can tell you, blockade and sanctions are one of the most powerful one-two punches in the history of economic isolation,” he said.
Asked about his prediction that the Strait of Hormuz would become irrelevant to the oil industry within two years, Bessent said oil-producing countries around the Persian Gulf were developing “alternative pipeline routes that will no longer entail oil going through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Bessent also rejected the suggestion that Iran controlled the waterway.
“The Iranian chokehold, to the extent they have one - and I can tell you, they do not have one - we are in control of the strait,” he said. “To the extent that they can threaten their neighbors, once we leave, that will not exist anymore.”
Iran’s Economy Ministry has established an “economic war” command center to coordinate and accelerate responses to economic problems caused by the conflict, deputy economy Minister Morteza Zamanian said on Sunday.
He acknowledged that higher energy prices caused by the conflict were affecting Americans but predicted that the shock would end and wage growth would continue.
“This war will end, and those will turn into real wage gains,” Bessent said.
He added that the administration expected the conflict to leave Iran unable to develop a nuclear weapon.
“I think we are going to get to the other side of this Iran conflict with a safer world, with an Iran that cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
The United States imposed a naval blockade in July alongside expanded sanctions aimed at restricting Iran’s oil exports and cutting a key source of government revenue.
Iran’s Economy Ministry has, meanwhile, established an “economic war” command center to coordinate and accelerate responses to economic problems caused by the conflict, Deputy Economy Minister Morteza Zamanian said on Sunday.
The center will initially focus on problems affecting businesses, trade and financing within the ministry’s authority, while using government economic bodies to coordinate responses across agencies, he added.
The apartments are at 3a Palace Green, an exclusive development overlooking Kensington Palace and close to the official London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Both properties include staff accommodation and private roof terraces, according to the report.
One is a five-bedroom duplex covering 3,944 square feet across the sixth and seventh floors. It was purchased for £19 million in 2016 but is now being offered for just under £12 million.
Knight Frank and Sotheby’s International Realty are jointly marketing the apartment. The listing describes it as “an exceptional duplex penthouse with staff accommodation and commanding unrivalled views across Kensington Gardens from one of London’s most prestigious addresses.”
The brochure does not identify its politically sensitive connections but notes: “Due to the property being in receivership, we do not have all of the material information for the property; therefore you should ensure you make all relevant inquiries,” the report said.
The second penthouse occupies the seventh and eighth floors of the same building. It was bought for £16.75 million in 2014 and has also entered receivership.
Land Registry documents show that financial advisory firm Teneo was appointed as its receiver, the report said, adding that the apartment does not appear to have been publicly listed, leaving its asking price unknown.
Several prospective buyers are believed to have viewed the properties amid significant interest, according to The Sunday Times.
The registered owner of both apartments is Iranian banker Ali Ansari, whom the US Treasury sanctioned in July as a “key financier” for Khamenei. Washington said Ansari “oversees a sprawling global network of assets benefiting Iran’s leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and other regime elites.”
Ansari was previously sanctioned by Britain over allegations that he financed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. His British assets were frozen, and he was barred from entering the country. He is understood to deny wrongdoing.
The British government is believed to have authorized the sale of the two apartments after Ansari defaulted on their mortgages, according to The Sunday Times. The private lenders that financed the purchases appointed receivers to recover their money, although the amount originally borrowed is not known.
Any proceeds remaining after the lenders are repaid are expected to be frozen while Ansari remains under sanctions.
Neither Khamenei nor Ansari has been seen by employees at the Palace Green development since the apartments were purchased, the newspaper reported.
Since his father was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes in February, Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen or heard publicly, leaving his condition and circumstances unclear.
