For more than five months, the Strait of Hormuz has been a risky place for ships carrying the world's energy. Now Iran may be quietly opening the door to foreign help cleaning it up.
Iran has publicly ruled out any outside involvement in mine clearance.
Hormuz is a vital passage for oil and LNG, natural gas cooled into liquid so it can travel by sea.
Iran's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment, so the public position and the private signals are still hard to square.
A European mine-clearing operation would come with a long list of conditions.
Iran would need to guarantee the safety of naval vessels doing the work and agree to a ceasefire that holds.
It would also need approval from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Iranian military force that has carried out ship attacks in the strait.
The catch: the same group blamed for attacking ships would have to sign off on foreign crews coming in to remove the mines.
Iranian leaders are divided over the idea, and some Guard members say Iran should handle mine disposal itself.
There is no guarantee the plan goes anywhere.
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Even if the mines are cleared, the deeper dispute over who controls the waterway would remain. Iranian leaders have long treated the strait as part of their national security, while Washington and its allies insist on free navigation. That friction has kept shipping and insurance markets on edge for months.
The tougher argument is about what happens after the conflict. Iran wants to run the strait and charge ships for using it, but the US will not accept that.
The push for an agreement has picked up speed. On Tuesday, Qatar announced it has drawn up a draft agreement to restart US-Iran talks and shared it with both sides as a short-term way to lower tensions.
Bessent went even further, saying an agreement on Hormuz might be reached as early as Tuesday.
Much depends on talks between Iran and Oman, which oversees the strait's southern side. The two countries have discussed a new central shipping lane through the waterway.
That lane may still hold mines, which brings the clearing idea back in.
The US is leaning on allies to publicly declare the strait safe so energy shipments can start moving again, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed officials in Britain and France to convene an international meeting on Hormuz shipping.
That meeting probably will not happen until a new ceasefire is in place and holds.
European officials had resisted because they feared being seen as backing US offensive operations. Washington's new backing for the mine-clearing plan is also a turnaround, since Trump had once dismissed European offers of help.
In June, the public answer was very different.
After French President Emmanuel Macron offered to help clear mines from the strait, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi shot back on X: "Demining is conducted solely by Iran and no other country."
Most of the time, investors do not have to think about Hormuz. It becomes a problem when shipping turns dangerous, because that raises insurance costs and makes energy harder to move.
If European crews are allowed in to clear the mines, it would give shipping and insurance firms confidence that the strait is safe to cross again.
That confidence is what it takes to get energy moving normally.
None of this is guaranteed. Iranian leaders are split, the control dispute is unresolved, and one public statement could sink the whole effort.
But there is a real path where the world's most important oil route starts to reopen, and that is the kind of thing that shows up in your portfolio over time.
If the deal fades, the strait stays risky. You do not need to work in energy to care which one happens.
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