Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard may have put sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz during the war, a chart published by semi-official news agencies in the country on Thursday suggested.
The message may be intended to pressure the United States as uncertainty hangs over a days-old two-week ceasefire and further negotiations are set to begin in Pakistan.
The charts were released by the ISNA news agency, as well as Tasnim, which is believed to be close to the Guard, and showed a large circle marked “danger zone” in Farsi over the Traffic Separation Scheme, which was the route ships used to take through the strait – a narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil and natural gas traded once passed.
The chart suggested ships travel further north through waters closer to Iran’s mainland near Larak Island, a route that some ships were observed taking during the war.
