US escalates Strait of Hormuz crisis with kill order
President Donald Trump said Thursday he has ordered the US military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines to choke traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s post on social media came shortly after the US military seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Tehran over the strait through which 20 per cent of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes.
“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be... that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted. “There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine sweepers are clearing the Strait right now.”
“I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled-up level!” Trump added. He also said the military is intensifying mine-clearing operations in the critical waterway. The move comes a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards attacked three cargo ships in the strait, capturing two of them. The Defence Department released video footage earlier on Thursday of US forces on the deck of the Guinea-flagged oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean.
“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” a Pentagon statement said.
Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, earlier seized by American forces. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China.
The vessel previously had been named Phonix and had been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil in contravention of US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
There was no immediate response from Iran on the news of the seizure.
Since the February 28 start of the war between Iran, Israel and the United States, over 30 ships have come under attack in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.
The threat of attack, rising insurance premiums and other fears have stopped traffic from moving through the strait. Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has proved a major strategic advantage.
Trump this week extended a ceasefire to give the battered Iranian leadership more time to come with a “unified proposal” on ending the war, while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports.
There was no immediate sign whether peace talks, previously hosted by Pakistan, would resume anytime soon.
Trump, in a separate post on Thursday, claimed a leadership rift between moderates and hardliners was confounding Iran.
“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly said over the course of the ceasefire that began on April 8 that his team is dealing with Iranian officials who want to make a deal, while acknowledging his decision to kill several top leaders has come with some complications.
The ceasefire has been strained by duelling US attacks on Iranian ships and those by Iran on commercial vessels. It also remains unclear when, or if, the two sides will meet again in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where officials say they are still trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal.
The conflict already has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. Officials around the world have warned the impact to businesses, consumers and economies could be long-lasting.
