Al Arabiya English
The UK and France have finalized plans to lead a multinational mine-clearing mission in the Strait of Hormuz within days of an agreement between the US and Iran to reopen the waterway, according to people familiar with the matter. Shipping in one of the world’s most critical trade corridors remains at a near-standstill with the US and the Islamic Republic clashing in the Arabian Gulf earlier this week amid fraught efforts to agree to an interim deal to restore maritime traffic to prewar levels. Military planners in multiple countries are at an advanced stage in their plans to join efforts to rid the strait of naval mines laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said five people familiar with the talks.On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump downplayed the threat posed by Iranian sea mines to commercial shipping. He said US forces had “gotten most of them.” A day earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators that Iran had mined large sections of the strait. Trump added
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