Washington, Apr 23 (UNI) US President Donald Trump announced that he has directed the US Navy to take immediate action against any Iranian boats which are spotted trying to place mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
“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,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Additionally, minesweeping teams have been deployed to clear the strait from all the Iranian mines placed, stating that these efforts would be tripled.
“I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!” he wrote.
This comes as US officials confirmed that any attempt to clear the Strait of Hormuz from the massive amount of mines placed in there would take over six months, if not more.
CENTCOM had stated a month back that Iran had likely placed at least a dozen sea mines in the strait, using small boats that can carry two to three of the devices each.
Meanwhile, Iran has begun collecting tolls from vessels trying to traverse the waterway, with Tehran announcing that it will “sanction anyone who tries to sanction us”, adding that the flow of much of Europe’s oil and gas supplies was now under Iranian control.
Around 20% of the world’s crude oil supplies would typically transit the strait before the war, but it has been effectively blockaded by Iran’s threat to commercial ships for more than seven weeks, which says it has limited passage to “friendly” countries.
UNI ANV CDS
