2026-05-05T19:11:49.691Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
作者：海莉·布里茨基
19分钟前发布
发布于美国东部时间2026年5月5日下午3:11
动物主题 中东地区 联邦机构 美国军事
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2025年5月5日，海军海洋哺乳动物计划（MMP）实习生萨迪·斯坦因海默（右）和特里斯坦·史密斯在太平洋海军信息战中心（NIWC）照料美军海豚。
图片来源：海军公共事务一级军士长迈克尔·T·埃克尔贝克尔/美国海军
随着外界担忧伊朗在霍尔木兹海峡布设水雷，美国国防部长皮特·赫格斯西周二被问及伊朗是否可能动用海豚对抗美国海军。
他表示可以“证实”伊朗没有可投入作战的海豚，但拒绝“证实或否认美军是否拥有自杀式海豚”。
一位熟悉霍尔木兹海峡美军行动的消息人士告诉CNN，美军并未在该海峡部署海豚执行任务。但事实上，美国海军拥有一项延续数十年的训练海豚协助扫雷的项目。
海洋哺乳动物计划隶属于太平洋海军信息战中心的情报、监视与侦察（ISR）部门。该部门的海豚并非自杀式海豚，它们不会以自身引爆水雷为代价，而是专注于探测任务。
“我们利用海洋哺乳动物探测水下物体，并通过侦测入侵者来保护港口，”曾在已退役的美国海军水雷战司令部任职的兰德公司高级工程师斯科特·萨维茨告诉CNN，“这可不是‘海豚之日’里的设定。”
并非只有美国将海豚用于军事用途——据BBC报道，俄罗斯曾用海豚守卫港口，伊朗也在2000年购买过海豚。这些海豚如今大概率已过于年迈无法执行任务，且没有迹象表明伊朗拥有现役海豚项目。不过《华尔街日报》上月报道称，伊朗正考虑将搭载水雷的海豚作为对抗美军封锁海峡行动的非常规手段。
周二向赫格斯西提出的问题，正值美伊停火协议引发诸多质疑之际，此前双方在霍尔木兹海峡紧张局势升级时均有开火行为。CNN今年3月曾报道伊朗已开始在海峡布设水雷；赫格斯西4月表示，布设水雷将违反临时停火协议，美军将“对此作出回应”。
美国海军团队在黑山附近一次演习中与经过特殊训练的海豚合作，侦测战后遗留的水下爆炸物。
图片来源：黑山美国大使馆
美国海军的海豚项目始于1959年，主要训练宽吻海豚和加州海狮探测并打捞水下物体。根据海洋哺乳动物计划官网介绍，海豚“拥有科学界已知最先进的声呐系统”，水下无人机“完全不是这些动物的对手”。
“海豚和海狮都拥有出色的低光视觉和水下定向听力，即便在黑暗或浑浊水域也能侦测并追踪水下目标，”官网写道，“海豚经训练后可搜寻并标记可能威胁军用或民用船只人员安全的水下水雷位置。”
据海军水下博物馆介绍，在执行侦测任务时，海豚通常会和2至3名训练员搭乘小艇出行。若发现目标，动物会轻敲船首的桨板，未发现目标则轻敲船尾桨板。海豚会在发现的水雷附近投放“标记浮标”，帮助人类潜水员定位并拆除水雷。
但萨维茨表示，海豚通常不会被部署在霍尔木兹海峡当前这种活跃的作战环境中。相反，它们一般在战事结束后用于扫雷，比如2003年美军及联军占领伊拉克南部后，曾部署海豚侦测通往伊拉克乌姆盖萨尔港的航道内是否存在水雷。
“当时敌对行动已基本停止，”他说，“你不会试图靠海豚攻入敌方阵地。”
萨维茨解释称，该项目的一个关键特点是，海豚和海狮每次出海训练或执行任务时都有机会自行离开。
“它们选择返回，是因为喜欢免费的食物；它们享受‘寻找海底目标、侦测试图靠近码头的游泳者’这类游戏；它们也喜欢这里免受天敌侵扰的环境，”萨维茨说，“总会有人质疑动物福利问题，但这些动物本可以回归野生环境，却主动选择留在项目中。”
CNN的扎卡里·科恩为本报道贡献了内容。
Are military dolphins working in the Strait of Hormuz? Probably not, but they have been part of the US Navy for decades
2026-05-05T19:11:49.691Z / CNN
By Haley Britzky
19 min ago
PUBLISHED May 5, 2026, 3:11 PM ET
Animal stories The Middle East Federal agencies US military
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Sadie Steinheimer, right, and and Tristan Smith, interns at the Navy Marine Mammal Program (MMP), care for Navy dolphins at Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific on May 5, 2025.
Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael T. Eckelbecker/US Navy
With concerns about Iran laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was asked Tuesday whether Iran might turn to dolphins to help confront the US Navy.
He said that he could “confirm” that Iran didn’t have dolphins to deploy as part of operations but said he would neither “confirm or deny whether we have kamikaze dolphins.”
One source familiar with US operations in the Strait of Hormuz told CNN that the US military isn’t using dolphins as part of its efforts in the Strait. But the US Navy does, in fact, have a decades-old program to train dolphins to help detect mines.
The Marine Mammal Program is a part of the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Department within Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific. The department’s dolphins are not kamikaze dolphins in that they do not sacrifice their lives to detonate mines. Instead, they’re focused on detection.
“We use marine mammals to help detect objects under water and to protect ports by detecting intruders,” Scott Savitz, a senior engineer at RAND who previously worked with the now-decommissioned US Navy mine warfare command, told CNN. “So it’s not ‘The Day of the Dolphin.’”
The US isn’t alone in using dolphins for military purposes — Russia has used them to guard ports, and Iran purchased dolphins in 2000, according to the BBC. Those dolphins would likely be too old to be used today, and there is no indication that Iran has an active dolphin program, though the Wall Street Journal reported last month that Iran was considering mine-carrying dolphins as a novel way to combat the US efforts to open the Strait.
The question to Hegseth on Tuesday comes amid questions about the ceasefire between the US and Iran, after shots were fired by both sides as tensions escalated in the Strait of Hormuz. CNN reported in March that Iran had started laying mines in the Strait; Hegseth said in April that laying mines would violate the tentative ceasefire agreement and that the US military would “deal with that.”
US Navy teams work with specially trained dolphins during an exercise to detect underwater explosives left over from war near Montenegro.
US Embassy in Montenegro
The US Navy’s dolphin program has been around since 1959, focused on training bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions to detect and recover objects underwater. According to the Marine Mammal Program’s webpage, dolphins “possess the most sophisticated sonar known to science,” and underwater drones are “no match for the animals.”
“Both dolphins and sea lions have excellent low light vision and underwater directional hearing that allow them to detect and track undersea targets, even in dark or murky waters,” the website says. “Dolphins are trained to search for and mark the location of undersea mines that could threaten the safety of those on board military or civilian ships.”
During a detection mission, the dolphin would typically travel with 2-3 handlers in a small boat. To indicate if they’ve found something, the animal will tap a paddle at the front of the boat, and tap a back paddle to indicate they haven’t, according to the Naval Undersea Museum. The dolphins drop “marker buoys” near mines they’ve located to help human divers find and disable them.
But dolphins are not typically used in an active combat environment like what exists in the Strait of Hormuz currently. Instead, dolphins have been used to detect mines after fighting has finished, Savitz said.
Savitz pointed specifically to when dolphins were deployed in 2003 to detect any mines leading to the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr after the US and coalition partners had captured southern Iraq.
“Hostilities had basically ceased,” he said. “You’re not trying to fight your way in with dolphins.”
A key aspect of the program, Savitz explained, is that the dolphins and sealions have the opportunity to leave every time they go out into the open waters for training or operations.
“They choose to come back because they like the free fish; they like the game of can you find this on the sea floor, can you find the person trying to swim close to the piers; they like the protection from predators,” Savitz said. “There are always questions about animal welfare, but these animals actively choose to stay in the program when they could just join the wild.”
CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.
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