
US special forces spent four months conducting a secret mine-clearing mission in the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to open the waterway, the Financial Times reported.
The covert operation was carried out amid ongoing exchanges of attacks between the US and Iran around the Strait.
Navy SEAL divers worked with unmanned vessels, robots and specialized underwater equipment to find and remove suspected Iranian mines, often operating at night.
The objective of the operation was to make the strait safer for commercial ships that had largely avoided the waterway since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
Iran has said it had laid mines in international and Omani waters after the outbreak of the war.
The International Maritime Organization estimated in June that approximately 80 mines had been placed along important shipping routes.
US President Donald Trump announced last week that "all mines" in the international waters of the strait had been removed or destroyed, a claim later confirmed by the US military.