Donald Trump’s four-time extended ceasefire took another hit Thursday morning when he ordered the US Navy on Truth Social to shoot and kill any boat laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
The order came with a parenthetical, as his orders often do.
“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. Additionally, our mine ‘sweepers’ are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!”
The post arrived alongside a separate escalation at sea.
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US forces boarded the Majestic X, a Guyana-flagged oil tanker previously sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude, in the Indian Ocean.
The Pentagon posted video of the boarding, warning that international waters cannot shield sanctioned actors and that enforcement would continue globally. The ship was the second tanker seized in the Indian Ocean this week.
Overnight, U.S. forces carried out a maritime interdiction and right-of-visit boarding of the sanctioned stateless vessel M/T Majestic X transporting oil from Iran, in the Indian Ocean within the INDOPACOM area of responsibility.
We will continue global maritime enforcement to… pic.twitter.com/SWF6Jt9Ci4
— Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) April 23, 2026
And just a day earlier, Iran had already made its move.
Revolutionary Guard forces attacked three cargo ships in the strait and seized two of them, including the Epaminondas, whose management company confirmed all crew were safe after the vessel was approached and fired upon by a manned gunboat approximately 20 nautical miles off the coast of Oman.
Both navies are now seizing each other’s ships in one of the world’s most important waterways. The ceasefire paperwork has not caught up with events.
Maritime tracking data shows an almost total standstill of vessels transiting the strait in the 12 hours following Wednesday’s Iranian attack. Just one ship completed the crossing. In normal times, the strait handles 20% of the world’s traded oil. Brent crude crossed $103 a barrel Thursday morning and kept climbing.
Iran’s deputy parliament speaker confirmed Thursday that the first revenues from Tehran’s new shipping tolls on the strait had been deposited into the state’s central bank.
“If the United States continues on its current course, no vessels will pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said. “We are not engaged in negotiations – rather, we are making demands.” Iran is collecting tolls on a waterway Trump says the US controls completely.
That claim is starting to look shaky.
Trump told CNBC on Tuesday: “We totally control the Strait, just so you understand, for all the fake news out there.” One ship crossed in twelve hours on Thursday. US Central Command has directed 31 ships to turn around as part of the blockade.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
