Most shipments have been unable to pass through the strategically important strait as Iran continues its war with the United States, Israel and other countries in the region, amid continued bombing of Iranian targets.
Reopening the strait to facilitate the flow of oil and fertilizer remains a key goal of the global community.
Paul Heslop is an expert with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) which focuses on landmine clearance.
He spoke to Nathalie Minard of UN News before the International Mine Awareness Day and Attendance marked annually on April 4.
UN NEWS: Do you have any information about the naval mines being deployed in the Strait of Hormuz?
Paul Heslop: What we do know is that the Iranian navy had a huge arsenal of sea mines before the conflict.
Paul Heslop, UNMAS
We have no confirmed reports indicating exactly the number or types that have been used, but sea mines are relatively easy to deploy.
You can take them out in a fairly small boat, fishing boat, dhow or dedicated minelayer.
UN NEWS: What types of sea mines could be deployed?
Paul Heslop: If considered a landmine, it is typically placed above or below the surface. And once placed, it stays in place, unless there is an earthquake, landslide, or large volume of water that moves it.
The challenge with sea mines is that they can be placed in three layers: floating on the surface, floating within the water or deployed on the sea floor.
Obviously, if they are floating, they are vulnerable to tidal currents and can change location. They can also be tied and secured in one place.
A satellite photograph shows the strategically important shipping route of the Strait of Hormuz.
They can be made of plastic or metal. Their activation mechanisms include contact with the helmet, magnetic influence or they can be detonated remotely or programmed to detonate.
UN NEWS: Why are sea mines harder to clear?
Paul Heslop: Clearing landmines is difficult, but clearing seamines is even harder.
You are not only working in three different depths, that is, three dimensions, but also in a fourth dimension, which is time.
Over time, mines can move. If an area is cleaned and there is a tide or other current, then that same area can become contaminated again.
Additionally, some mines move through water, propelled by a propulsion mechanism, so deminers work in a dynamic and changing environment.
UN NEWS: How can they be detected?
Paul Heslop: If they are metallic, a magnetometer (which measures changes in magnetic fields) would find them. There are also a range of sophisticated sonar (sound waves) and radar (radio waves) detection tools to locate underwater devices.
Another challenging factor in water is temperature layers that can act as reflectors and make detection difficult.
So if the mine is at a depth where there is a different temperature layer above it and sonar has been deployed, the sonar can degrade or drift due to those temperature layers.
This is why finding and removing sea mines is extremely challenging and very dangerous for the ships that do it.
UN NEWS: Which countries have mine sweeping ships and the ability to technically intervene in that specific area of ​​naval mines?
Paul Heslop: Most navies will have some capability to deal with mines.
This conflict comes at a time of transition from antiquated crewed minesweepers to new technologies that use drones or underwater robotics to locate mines.
UN NEWS: If sea mines were a proven threat to shipping, what would be the solution to allow traffic to resume once peace is restored?
It’s a bit like a peacekeeping mission: you can have an insurgent group that, at night, goes and puts a mine on the road to attack a convoy.
Then, every morning, you patrol with a mine-protected vehicle to check that no mines have been laid the night before.
If there is a peace agreement or an agreement in the Strait of Hormuz and mines have been laid, then for the foreseeable future it will probably be necessary, due to the dynamic nature of sea mines, to form a convoy and search for mines ahead of that convoy.
A convoy would likely operate in a canal a couple of kilometers wide that has been cleared of mines. Not every square meter of the Strait of Hormuz could be cleaned every day.
And obviously, depending on currents and tidal changes, some areas are more likely to become re-polluted than others.