FOX News Host Benjamin Hall dug into the secret operations by U.S. CENTCOM to clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz and the geopolitics of oil, Venezuela and China.  Hall cited new details about a secret, high risk mission beneath the Strait of Hormuz.  Highlights below, and full clip here.

Benjamin Hall: Navy divers reportedly spending four months hunting down and destroying mines, often underwater and in the dark.  President Trump says international waters are now clear, but their challenge may be keeping Iran from mining them again.  I want to play you a sound bite first from Secretary Bessent about what he said about the Straits. Have a listen.

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent (Sound on Tape): The blockade is working. It’s working like nothing we’ve ever seen, and the combination; you know, everyone says, oh, sanctions don’t work. I can tell you, blockade and sanctions are one of the most powerful 1-2 punches in the history of economic isolation.

Benjamin Hall: For a long time, we’ve been hearing that they’ve managed to open the Strait, so they’re clearing the mines.  We haven’t given this detail before. The Financial Times saying Navy SEAL divers, robotic boats, specialized underwater craft, spending night times clearing it. Is this something that they can keep up? Once they have the Strait open, can they keep it open, or is there a constant fear that Iranians will continue to mine it?

Rebecca Grant: Oh, they can keep it open.  This is an incredible achievement of American technology, and Admiral Cooper at Central Command made that formal announcement on August 27^th.  He said, “We did it. The Strait is clear.”  That means he’s cleared the TSS, the traffic separation scheme – kind of an inbound-outbound highway.  What’s key about this is, the hardest piece was finding and mapping the locations of these Iranian mines.  So much of this now is done with underwater, unmanned vessels, and then the SEALS, and helicopters and the whole joint force helping out as well. Now that they have that map of the seabed, they have taken out any mines that were there, and it’s much easier now to watch it.  We have so much monitoring from the E-2Ds on the aircraft carriers to the Space Force, every destroyer that’s there, our two aircraft carriers. We have a laser eye on that, and I’ve got to tell you, we got tactical control of that waterway.

Benjamin Hall: And so, presumably, the U.S. is watching that entire coastline, waiting to see if small boats are coming out, if they’re planning on firing mines. What are they watching for?  In which ways could the Iranians try to mine the Strait again?

Rebecca Grant: Exactly right.  Possibly pushing the mine off a fast boat, about the size of a Boston Whaler; they also have a missile that I think they got from China that can have a couple mines stuffed in it, and it can get launched.  In fact, Central Command struck a couple of those missile batteries a few days ago.  So, it’s about just keeping this constant watch over any piece of IRGC military equipment: the people, the trucks, the missile launchers, the fast boats.  But we have 50,000 U.S. service members there and the ability to watch every move that they make.  So, if Admiral Cooper doesn’t like what he sees, he’ll go and hit them, just like he did after they say they tried to target our aircraft carriers.

Benjamin Hall: I want to switch to Venezuela at the moment, and of course there’s a greater U.S. access to Venezuelan oil. We’ve seen a lot of change recently.  What impact does that have on oil markets? To what degree does that really move eyes away from the Strait of Hormuz?  Or is it a longer-term policy rather than a quick fix?

Rebecca Grant: This is a brilliant long-term move, and you’ve got a situation where the Department of War is actually putting some money, along with a Venezuelan partnership, into being able to access Venezuela’s oil.  Venezuela, as you know, has more oil than Saudi Arabia.  Now, it’s heavier and harder to refine, but the Trump Administration’s plan is to give the U.S. only access to that, and, of course, to be sold in the global markets.  But the key here is keeping that in the Western Hemisphere and locking out China in case there’s a crisis.  It’s a long-term move. It’s not going to lower the price at the pump this weekend, but it does ensure America’s energy security, especially for years down the road if there’s a global crisis.  It’s very, very important, and I’m most impressed with what they’ve done.

Benjamin Hall: I’m sure China is both upset about the Straits of Hormuz, as well as they are losing Venezuelan oil, so that’s certainly on the back foot.