The Korea Times
WASHINGTON — Two U.S. Navy warships transited the Strait of Hormuz to begin clearing Iranian-laid mines, US Central Command said Saturday — a claim Tehran denied as the Revolutionary Guards threatened to deal "severely" with military vessels crossing the strategic waterway. The announcement of the first such transit since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began came shortly after President Donald 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 U.S. forces including underwater drones" could join the effort in coming days. Iran "strongly rejected" Washington's claims that U.S. vessels entered the strait, military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari told state TV. "The initi
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