Trump orders US Navy to ‘shoot and kill’ any boat that lays mines in Strait of Hormuz

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump gave Iran a very clear order: the US Navy should "shoot and kill" any ship found laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. "I told the US Navy to shoot and kill any boat, even small ones (all 159 of their naval ships are at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz." There is no room for doubt. Also, our mine "sweepers" are now cleaning up the Strait. I am ordering that activity to keep going, but at three times the speed! "Thank you for paying attention to this," he said on Truth Social.

He also said that mine-clearing operations are already going on in the area, with naval "sweepers" working hard to clear the strait. He also said that he has ordered these operations to continue at a faster pace, telling the troops to step up their efforts to "a tripled-up level" as tensions rise.

Iranian forces fired upon three ships and captured two of them in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, but earlier, at Pakistan’s urging, Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely, allowing Tehran’s leadership more time to put together a united proposal to end the war.

The dramatic announcement by Trump, which was welcomed by Pakistan's top leadership, came just hours before the two-week ceasefire was due to expire. Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said no official statement had been released by Tehran to confirm it had agreed to extend the ceasefire. Pakistan had requested an extension of the truce in view of uncertainty surrounding the second round of talks. No clarity on date of next round of talks

The New York Post said on Wednesday that President Trump said the second round of talks between the US and Iran could happen as soon as Friday. The paper quoted Trump as saying that this kind of thing could happen in the next 36 to 72 hours.

Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said that Tehran has not yet made up its mind about whether or not to go to a new round of talks in Islamabad that Pakistan is mediating. "We have made it clear that if we conclude that going to Islamabad is in our national interest, we would go there. Baqaei told the BBC on Wednesday that the decision has not yet been made.

Baqaei said that Iran's delegation went to Pakistan for the first round of talks "with good faith and a sense of seriousness," but the other side "has shown its lack of seriousness and lack of good faith." The truce extension put off the planned trip to Islamabad by a US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance to talk with Iranian officials.

The first round of talks between the US and Iran on April 11 and 12 did not lead to any progress. This led to a lot of diplomatic activity by Pakistan, the host country, to calm things down and raise hopes for another round of talks. The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, which started the war.