Published: 12:30 AM, 24 April 2026
'US to shoot and kill Iranian boats'
An IRGC boat off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran. -Reuters
President Donald Trump has said he ordered the United States Navy to "shoot and kill" any Iranian boat laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, a move that could jeopardise the fragile ceasefire between the two countries.
The US president also said on Thursday that the military will heighten its efforts to remove explosives from the strategic waterway.
"I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. There is to be no hesitation," Trump wrote in a social media post.
"Additionally, our mine 'sweepers' are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled-up level!"
Iranian officials have repeatedly promised that their country would defend itself and respond to any US attack.
Hormuz - which had been open without interruption before the war - has emerged as a major point of contention in this war.
Iran closed down the strait in response to the US-Israeli military campaign, and it is now suggesting that it has rights to the passage that links the Gulf to the Indian Ocean - parts of which go through Iranian territorial waters.
The closure of Hormuz has spiked oil prices, putting political pressure on Trump at home in the US, where the price of one gallon (3.8 litres) of petrol has surpassed $4, up from $3 before the conflict.
