World's biggest anti-mine naval exercise after Iranian threats to close Gulf

Telegraph - The British-led exercise will see a coalition of 41 nations practise detecting and clearing mines to ensure they can keep open one of the world's most important shipping lanes.

The exercise follows Iranian warnings in recent years it might block the Strait of Hormuz if it were ever to come under attack from America or Israel for its nuclear programme, or as retaliation for international sanctions against the country.

Such a move would send the oil price soaring and deal a significant blow to the already weakened world economy.

Tehran has already said it will "fully monitor" the massive exercise this week and has warned participants against "provocations".

Iran held its own minesweeping exercise east of the Strait last week and said it had unveiled a "modern anti-mine" system.

Commodore Simon Ancona, the Royal Navy officer leading this week's exercise, said it was purely defensive and said it was not aimed directly at Iran or any other nation.

He said: "There's no way any one can claim that they are provocative. They will all take place in international waters. There's nothing overtly provocative and there's nothing covert."

He said the exercise had been put on because of growing international recognition that keeping sea lanes free of mines and protecting shipping was critical to the world economy.

Six British ships are among the craft taking part. Overall, the mine hunting and disposal drills will use more than 100 divers and 18 underwater remote controlled drone craft to detect and destroy mines. The Royal Navy prides itself on having some of the best anti-mine expertise and equipment in the world.

Ships will also carry out exercises to protect oil installations and escort convoys of merchant ships.

The Strait carries 30 per cent of seaborne oil supplies, Commodore Ancona said, amounting to 15 to 17 million barrels a day.

He said: "There's no doubt in my mind that a shift in oil prices is a global event and should oil prices increase, then we would all feel that cold breeze."

The 25-mile wide Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf is by far the most important oil chokepoint in the world. The threat to close it remains Iran's most potent strategic weapon.

Malcolm Graham-Wood, an oil analyst with VSA Capital in London, predicted that if Iran ever decided to close the Strait with mines then international oil prices could double overnight. A growing number of pipelines in the Gulf have yet to diminish the oil trade's reliance on the vulnerable waterway.

However he said they would probably quickly fall back as America and its allies moved to clear the channel. He said: "The basic problem is that the Straits are very narrow and easy to mine."

Commanders said that British and American naval vessels came into regular contact with their Iranian counterparts in the Gulf's confined waters and relations were civil.

Vice Admiral John Miller, commander of the US Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, said: "I think we have a fairly good idea of what their maritime capability is. We are out in the Gulf each and every day and the Iranian navy is out in the water every day and we have a good opportunity to assess each other."