The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the face of various Iranian military capability threats has underlined the return to prominence of mine warfare as both a military-operational and politico-strategic tool. Despite the talk of drones, hypersonic missiles, and other new technologies, and of shifts to ‘hybrid’ force structures and ways of warfare, the humble sea mine continues to shape modern naval operations. Being an asymmetric threat, it is perhaps no surprise, thus, that it does so in a disproportionate way.