The U.S. said it had destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying ships amid fears Tehran could deploy hundreds of mines to effectively booby-trap the critical shipping lane.

The Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway used to carry shipments of oil to countries around the world, is a point of contention amid the U.S.-Iran War.

The strike appears to have come without warning, and shows that Iran and its proxies can target ships even without mining the Strait of Hormuz.

The vessels targeted in Wednesday's late-night attacks in the Gulf near Iraq were the Marshall ​Islands-flagged Safesea Vishnu and the Malta-flagged Zefyros, which had loaded fuel cargoes in Iraq, two Iraqi port officials said.

Trump said the U.S. could send a naval escort to open up the oil shipping channel but now officials say they're not ready.

Sea mines are disrupting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz as Iran warns vessels away. Here’s how these mines pose such a serious global threat.

On Monday, Mr. Trump had warned Iran of the consequences of stopping the flow of commercial ship traffic in the Strait, posting on Truth Social, "If Iran does anything that stops the flow of oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America twenty times harder than they have been hit thus far."

Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline and the UAE's Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline are thought to be able to help partially offset the Strait of Hormuz blockage.