That makes mines particularly attractive to a weaker military seeking an asymmetric advantage.
The defender faces a difficult equation.
The attacker may spend relatively little to deploy a mine.
The defender must spend enormous resources to prove that the mine is no longer there.
This asymmetry is one reason maritime mine warfare remains relevant even in an era of satellites, artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles.
The technology may change.
The fundamental problem does not.
You cannot safely sail a $200 million tanker through water if you do not know what is beneath it.
The Human Factor
Despite all the machines involved, the most remarkable aspect of the operation may be the continued importance of human judgment.
A sonar image does not automatically tell an operator what an object is.
A machine can identify something unusual.
A human must determine what that anomaly means.
A robot can approach a suspected mine.
A specialist must decide whether the situation is safe enough to proceed.
And a diver may ultimately have to enter the water.
That is why the reported four-month operation was so dangerous.
The mission required patience, technical expertise and the willingness to repeat a painstaking process hundreds of times.
There was no dramatic battlefield charge.
No conventional front line.
Instead, the danger was hidden beneath dark water.
Every suspected contact had to be treated seriously.
Every movement had consequences.
Every decision had to balance the possibility of an explosive device against the need to restore a commercial shipping route.
The Information War Above the Water
There was also another battle taking place at the same time: the battle over information.
Iran has disputed elements of the U.S. characterization of the maritime situation, while U.S. officials have sought to demonstrate that commercial shipping can safely resume.
That creates a fundamental credibility problem.
Who decides when Hormuz is safe?
The military?
The shipping industry?
Insurance companies?
International maritime organizations?
Or individual captains?
In practice, all of them matter.
A government announcement can reopen a route legally.
It cannot force a private company to accept a level of risk it considers unacceptable.
This explains why shipping activity can remain depressed even after military forces report successful clearance operations.
The physical minefield may be shrinking.
The perceived minefield may remain.