If the tense confrontation with Iran ignites into war, strategists say they expect Iran will strike with thousands of deadly sea mines to try to halt oil tanker traffic and take out American warships.

In the shallow, crowded waters of the Persian Gulf, mines pose a sobering challenge. When the U.S. Navy has faced a massive mine threat there in the past, it has failed to protect even its own ships.

Now, both Iran and the United States seem poised to fight it out again. Iran has acquired a stockpile of 2,000 to 3,000 mines, including "smart'' Chinese-built mines that could track and target U.S. warships, according to a report by Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington.The 660-pound warhead carried by one such mine could puncture the hull of a U.S. aircraft carrier, the report says.

But the Navy says this time it's prepared for a mine war, with a four-ship fleet of high-tech counter-mine vessels patrolling the Gulf, along with airborne sensors, robot submarines, a squadron of mine-hunting dolphins and sea lions on standby -- and two decades worth of operational experience off the coast of Iran.

The United States holds air and naval superiority across the region. Nevertheless, mine warfare in the Persian Gulf could be a lengthy, nerve-wracking conflict, putting at risk the steady flow of oil tankers and the ships and sailors of the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

Just as cheap, makeshift bombs, or IEDs, have exacted a bloody toll on Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan -- killing more than 3,000 and wounding more than 31,000, according to the Defense Department -- mines are an indirect but effective tactic for Iran to use against a more powerful opponent.

"No nation from this region wants to take the U.S. on with conventional munitions," said a senior Navy official, who agreed to discuss the issue anonymously because of continuing international diplomacy relating to Iran. "The asymmetric weapon is the way to go, and mines are cheap, easily manufactured and, not unlike an IED, are tripped by an unsuspecting victim," he said.