Maham-3

The Maham-3 is an Iranian-manufactured moored contact and influence mine designed to detect vessels via their magnetic signature and acoustic emission. In April 2026, US intelligence officials confirmed that Iran deployed at least a dozen Maham-3 and Maham-7 mines in the Strait of Hormuz without maintaining a systematic record of every placement, leaving Tehran unable to reliably map or recover all of them. The IRGC's own corridor charts published on 9 April, routing traffic near Larak Island, have been interpreted by analysts as an indirect acknowledgement that Iran does not know which channels remain SAFE.

The Maham-3 operates as a moored mine: anchored to the seabed by a cable, it floats at a set depth in the shipping lane. Its dual-sensor design allows it to trigger on either magnetic anomaly or acoustic signature, making it effective against vessels with low magnetic signatures. The Maham-7 is a distinct model configured as a seabed limpet device with sonar-evading characteristics. Iran has acknowledged lacking the mine-clearance capability required to remove the devices once located.

The operational consequence is acute: more than 600 vessels, including 325 oil tankers, remained stranded inside the Gulf as of 10 April 2026, with Hormuz transits running at 5-7 per day against a pre-war baseline of 120 to 140. Kpler projects a ceiling of 10-15 transits per day even under full Ceasefire conditions. The mines effectively function as a passive blockade that Iran can no longer fully control.