JMIC raises Hormuz threat to Substantial and widens shipping lane

On Saturday, June 27, the Joint Maritime Information Center raised the maritime security threat level in the Strait of Hormuz to Substantial. The JMIC, a U.S.-led coalition body, said further hostile action was considered a strong possibility under current conditions.

The same day it expanded the designated southern corridor. The shipping lane along the Omani coast was widened to allow vessels moving in both directions to transit at the same time.

That southern route is the one that works. The main international traffic lanes through the strait carry a separate warning: they are off limits because of mines. In mid-June, JMIC confirmed the presence of a mine near the apex of the Omani peninsula, close to the corridor vessels are now using. Mine clearance operations are running, but the survey is not finished.

Vessels have found other ways to reduce their exposure. A large number have switched off their AIS transponders, going dark on trackers to pass through without advertising where they are going or who owns them. When Iran re-declared the waterway closed in late June, tracking services observed the majority of detected inbound vessels in the strait transmitting no signal at all.

The widened lane gives vessels more room along the southern edge. What the threat level tells them is that the room comes with conditions: the water is more dangerous than a threat level of Substantial has been at any point since the Hormuz crisis began, and mines are part of why.