United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday rejected suggestions that Iran could deploy mine-carrying dolphins against US warships in the Strait of Hormuz, notably stopping short of denying that the US Navy operates its own marine mammal program.
Hegseth’s remarks, delivered during a Pentagon briefing, drew renewed attention to the allegedly clandestine world of military dolphin training, which US experts say is far more sophisticated and far more ethical than its Hollywood reputation suggests.
What did Hegseth actually say about kamikaze dolphins?
Hegseth was responding to reports, including one published by the Wall Street Journal on April 30, that Iranian officials had floated the idea of using “mine-carrying dolphins” to strike U.S. warships sailing through the disputed strait. His answer was carefully worded.
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“I can’t confirm or deny whether we have kamikaze dolphins, but I can confirm that we don’t,” Hegseth told reporters, using the term for Japanese pilots who deliberately flew their planes into their targets during World War II.
The Office of Naval Intelligence declined to comment beyond Hegseth’s briefing. Whether Iran has such capabilities remains unclear. One source familiar with US operations in the strait told CNN that the military is not currently deploying dolphins there.
The US Navy’s Marine Mammal Program: A History to 1959
The existence of a US military program for dolphins is not disputed. Since 1959, the Marine Mammal Program—administered through the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific—has trained bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions to locate underwater mines, detect unauthorized divers, and recover submerged objects.
According to the program’s own documentation, dolphins “have the most sophisticated sonar known to science” and that underwater drones are “no match for animals”. Both species, the Navy states, have “excellent low-light vision and underwater directional hearing that enable them to detect and track underwater targets, even in dark or murky waters.”
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However, these are not weapons in any conventional sense. When a dolphin identifies a mine during an operation, it taps a paddle in the front of its handler’s boat to signal a find, then drops a buoy near the site so human divers can remove it.
“We use marine mammals to help detect objects underwater and protect ports by detecting intruders,” said Scott Savitz, a senior engineer at the RAND Corporation who previously worked with the now-defunct US Navy Mine Action Command. “So it’s not ‘Dolphin Day.’
How effective are military dolphins? What science says
The biological capabilities that make dolphins valuable to naval operations are well documented. Their biosonar, or echolocation, allows them to distinguish between objects with a precision that electronic sonar cannot replicate.
“They can not only locate objects, but distinguish them with a greater degree of sophistication than the machines we’ve been able to develop for this purpose,” Savitz said.
Thanks to their exceptional underwater vision, seals complement dolphins in confusing or low-visibility environments. During the 2003 Iraq War, the mammals played what Savitz described as a “pivotal role” in detecting and removing naval mines from the port of Umm Qasr — though he was careful to note the conditions under which they were deployed.
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“The hostilities have essentially ceased,” he said. “You’re not trying to fight your way in with the dolphins.
During the Vietnam War, the Navy also trained dolphins to detect swimmers and divers attempting to breach military installations, an operational use that has since been documented in declassified material.
Russia, Ukraine and Iran: Who Else Has Military Dolphins?
The United States is not alone in exploring the military use of marine mammals. During the Cold War, the Soviet Navy maintained its own Dolphin program. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this capability passed to Ukraine. Russia reportedly revived its dolphin program after seizing Ukrainian defense dolphins during the annexation of Crimea in 2014. In 2022, satellite images identified two dolphin enclosures in the port of Sevastopol.
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Iran bought the dolphins in 2000, according to BBC reports, even though the animals would be well past their working age today. There is no verified evidence that Tehran maintains an active program. A Wall Street Journal report in April that Iran was considering mine-carrying dolphins was based on statements by Iranian officials, and the feasibility of such a deployment remains unconfirmed.
Animal welfare and the ethics of the military use of marine mammals
The use of animals in armed conflicts occupies an uncertain legal space. According to CNN, Chris Jenks, a law professor at Southern Methodist University, noted that there are few formal protections for animals in war, although some strategies based on international humanitarian law could theoretically be used.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it “recognizes the value” of animals in military roles, but says “animals should not be unnecessarily put at risk or sacrificed in the service of our country.” The organization’s position is that military animals “should be humanely trained and responsibly maintained, and the commitment to animal welfare must extend beyond military service.”
