US President Donald Trump has ordered the US military to shoot and kill Iranian small boats choking the Strait of Hormuz. In a social media post today, Mr Trump said he has ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat which is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. He said the military is intensifying its mine-clearing efforts in the critical waterway.

 

The US military today said it has seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Iran a day after its paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took control of two vessels in the crucial Strait of Hormuz. The Defence Department released video footage of US forces on the deck of the Guyana-flagged oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China. A Pentagon statement said they will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran wherever they operate. There was no immediate response from Iran on the news of the seizure. The seizure comes a day after Iran attacked three cargo ships in the strait, capturing two of them. On Tuesday, US President Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports.