The U.S. airstrikes against Iran overnight Monday targeted two Iranian rocket launchers that the military said could have dispensed small naval mines. But such a weapon — an artillery rocket that releases a mine into the water — would be unusual and could mean that Iran has created yet another way to potentially cause chaos in the Strait of Hormuz. “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into Strait of Hormuz,” said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.

After the strikes, the first acknowledged attacks on Iran since July 29, Iran fired a barrage of medium-range ballistic missiles at bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates that host U.S. troops. There were no reports of damage or casualties from the Iranian counterattack. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant portion of the world’s oil flows, has been under constant threat since the United States and Israel launched a combined assault against Iran on Feb. 28.

Iran has long maintained a robust arsenal of naval mines, from small limpet mines attached to ship hulls to larger weapons deployed by boats. Little is publicly known about Iran’s land-based rocket-delivered mines. The Maritime Executive reported in January 2025 that Iran had demonstrated a variant of its Fajr-5 rocket that could dispense a single free-floating mine. Such a weapon would not cause major damage to double-hulled tankers but could threaten small fishing boats in the Persian Gulf.