Washington. US President Donald Trump, in a Thursday morning social media posting, ordered the US military to “shoot and kill” Iranian small boats choking the Strait of Hormuz.

He also said the military is intensifying its mine-clearing efforts in the critical waterway.

“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. 

Trump has repeatedly said over the course of the ceasefire that began 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.

“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!” Trump wrote in a social media post. “The infighting is between the ‘Hardliners,’ who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY!”

He announced earlier this week that he was extending the truce to give the battered Iranian leadership more time to come up with a “unified proposal” on ending the war.

Meanwhile, the US military said it seized another tanker Thursday associated with smuggling Iranian oil, the Majestic X, in the Indian Ocean, deepening confusion over efforts to end the war. Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The seizure comes a day after Iran attacked three cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, capturing two of them. 

Trump has turned to naval blockades to pressure the governments of Venezuela, Cuba, and now Iran to meet his demands, but his preferred tactic is confronting a very different reality in the Middle East than in the Caribbean.

Unlike Cuba or Venezuela, Iran choked off a crucial trade route for energy shipments, meaning the longer the standoff persists, the more the global economy will suffer. Tehran also poses a greater military threat than those two adversaries in America’s own hemisphere and requires a sustained military presence far from US shores.

Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz gives it power during a shaky ceasefire because the widening economic risks, especially higher US gas prices in an election year, could force the Republican president to end the blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline, experts say.

Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, said on X that the country’s armed forces were demonstrating strength in the Strait of Hormuz, citing what he described as a Revolutionary Guard “mosquito fleet” of speedboats and underwater drones, along with action against three ships in the waterway.

He wrote that “the IRGC’s mosquito fleet, with speedboats and drones, lies in wait from the sea caves of Faror Island for the American aggressor warships, ready to saturate their air defenses and bring utter ruin upon the invaders.”

He called the display “a source of pride” and warned against US naval presence.

India’s shipping ministry said Thursday it’s “worried about Indian seafarers” in the Strait of Hormuz after reports of vessels coming under fire in the region, though none have been injured.

Mukesh Mangal, Additional Secretary at the Indian Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said two foreign-flagged vessels that came under fire had 22 Indian sailors on board.

“None of the Indian seafarers has been injured in the firing,” he said.

The ministry said at least 2,680 Indian sailors have been evacuated since the conflict began.

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