US says it destroyed 16 mine-laying vessels as Iran threatens to block Gulf oil exports
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein) Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
By JON GAMBRELL, JULIE WATSON and SAMY MAGDY / Associated Press 8 min read
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. said it took out more than a dozen mine-laying Iranian vessels Tuesday, and the Islamic Republic vowed to block the region’s oil exports, saying it would not allow “even a single liter” to be shipped to its enemies.
As concerns grew about the war’s effect on a strategic waterway, the American military said it destroyed 16 minelayers, though President Donald Trump said in social media posts that there were no reports of Iran planting explosives in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil is shipped.
The American military released the figure, along with unclassified footage of some of the vessels, after Trump threatened to hit Iran at “a level never seen before” if the country failed to immediately remove any mines it might have deployed in the channel.
A coffin is carried during the funeral of mostly children killed in a strike Feb. 28 at a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News Agency via AP)The coffin of Mehdi Hosseini, a man killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike, is carried for burial at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)Mourners pray during the funeral of Mehdi Hosseini, a man killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike, at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)This image taken from video provided by Iran state TV shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran’s slain supreme leader, who has been named as the Islamic Republic’s next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)People gather in a rally to support Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the successor to his late father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)Vehicles drive past a gas station as a person puts gasoline in a vehicle on Sunday, March 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)Gas prices are visible on a marquee outside of a Kroger grocery store Monday, March 9, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)Gas prices are seen on a Shell station marqee Monday, March 9, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter/ Vehicles pass by a gas station on West 20th Street on Monday, Mar. 9, 2026.Flames rise from an oil storage facility south of the capital Tehran as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israel military campaign, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)Iraqis hold a portrait of the new successor to Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the U.S. embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Both sides sharpened their rhetoric as the war entered its 11th day. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promised the most intense strikes yet while the Pentagon detailed the broader toll of injuries sustained by U.S. troops.
