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.
About 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas flowed through Hormuz before the war.
After a two-week ceasefire came into effect last month, Trump announced a naval siege on Iranian ports and kept it in place even after Tehran announced reopening Hormuz in response to the inclusion of Lebanon in the truce.
Iran has set lifting the blockade as a precondition for resuming talks with the US.
Trump extended the ceasefire that was set to expire on Wednesday, but Washington has kept its blockade on Iran-linked ships.
The Pentagon said on Thursday that the US military conducted a “maritime interdiction and right-of-visit” to a tanker carrying Iranian oil in the Indian Ocean.
Earlier this week, the US military also said it seized an Iranian vessel and ordered dozens of others to turn around.
Meanwhile, Iran has also captured foreign commercial vessels around the Hormuz Strait, which it said were in violation of naval regulations.
The duelling blockades risk re-igniting the war. The US has not set a deadline for the extended truce.
The White House said on Wednesday that Trump is “satisfied” with the siege on Iran.