[Hat tip: commenter “TJ.”]

This is impressive, if true:

US special forces spent four months conducting a secret mine-clearing mission in the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to open up the waterway, the Financial Times reported Sunday.

Iran has said it placed mines in international and Omani waters following the outbreak of the war. The International Maritime Organization estimated in June that roughly 80 mines had been deployed along important shipping routes.

The covert operation was carried out amid ongoing exchanges of strikes between the US and Iran in and around the Strait, according to people familiar with the mission.

Navy SEAL divers worked with unmanned vessels, robots, and specialized underwater equipment to locate and remove suspected Iranian mines, often operating at night.

Military engagements engender something called the fog of war. This is somewhat different, though – it indicates a secret operation, which are also common in wars. Those who don’t trust the Trump administration or the Jerusalem Post (or the Financial Times?) are free to say the report is a lie. It doesn’t sound like a lie to me.

Others who are against the Iran war will probably dismiss it as irrelevant or unimportant. But to me, it’s emblematic of how much in war goes on outside of our awareness, both good and bad.