Reuters: The exchange highlighted how quickly a conflict that has increasingly been fought through sanctions, blockades and economic pressure can still spill back into military action. While neither side appeared to be seeking a return to full-scale war, both signalled they were prepared to respond to further attacks.
“We’re going to hit them hard,” a Fox News reporter quoted Trump as later telling the channel. “There will be a response.”
Separately, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the renewed strikes did not signal a return to full-scale war, describing Iran as a “failed nation” whose economy and military had been severely degraded. “That doesn’t mean we won’t smack them. We’ll see what happens.”…
U.S. Strikes May Have Targeted a New Type of Iranian Naval Mine
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…
Mine Warfare With Iran Hampers U.S. Efforts to Win Control of Hormuz
At the heart of the fight is a fundamental imbalance of mine warfare. Iran doesn’t necessarily need to sink ships. It only needs to persuade shipowners, captains and insurers that the risk of encountering a mine while transiting the strait is too high to make the trip.
For the U.S., however, which wants to ensure safe passage, the mission is harder. It needs to disable or remove every mine.
…“So long as there is a track record of the strait being mined and of Iranians possessing large amounts of mines, it means shipowners will consider it too risky,” said Alessio Patalano, a professor of war and strategy at King’s College London…