US President Donald Trump on Thursday issued a "shoot and kill order" to the US Navy as the blockade on Iranian vessels continue.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump posted, "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 added that he ordered the US mine sweepers to speed up the clearing of Strait of Hormuz by threefold.
The US forces on Thursday boarded another Iran-linked vessel, Majestic X, in the Indian Ocean. The oil tanker was reportedly located between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, according to ship-tracking data. Previously named Phonix, it the tanker was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil.
A video shared on X captures the moment the US forces exit military helicopters and land on the ship's deck.
"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," the Defense Department said on social media.
The military added that it will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels giving material support to Iran.
Earlier, the US military seized another oil tanker, Tifani, in the same location in the Indian Ocean. It was bound for China's Zhoushan.
