"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," President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social account, adding that U.S. mine "sweepers" are clearing the waterway and that he was ordering the activity "to continue, but at a tripled up level."
The president’s directive and accompanying claims
The order, posted on Truth Social and widely circulated in media updates, directs the U.S. Navy to engage any Iranian small craft involved in laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. In the same set of remarks, the president asserted that U.S. forces are actively demining the strait and that mine-countermine efforts should be tripled. He also repeated numbers and operational assessments in other briefings, saying the campaign had hit "78% of the targets" selected for Epic Fury and claiming—without independent confirmation in the same post—that "Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!"
U.S. mine countermeasures posture and naval assets
The War Zone mapped U.S. mine-countermeasures (MCM) movements and public Pentagon posts. Two Avenger-class MCMs—USS Chief (MCM-14) and USS Pioneer (MCM-9)—were tracked departing Colombo, Sri Lanka, and steaming northwest after stopping AIS transmissions, while the Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Canberra (LCS 30) has been photographed patrolling the Arabian Sea in CENTCOM. Two forward-deployed LCSs configured for MCM, USS Santa Barbara and USS Tulsa, were observed transiting from Singapore (Santa Barbara left April 16; Tulsa left April 2), though those ships had been redeployed from Bahrain ahead of the conflict.
Open-source and social-media reporting added an operational update: there are reportedly four minesweeping ships in the U.S. Navy (two in Japan and two en route to CENTCOM/5th Fleet) and three LCSs with mine-countermeasures modules assigned to the CENTCOM/5th Fleet, with only USS Canberra publicly confirmed on station. The arrival of Pioneer and Chief, if completed, would increase the count from one confirmed sweeper to three—echoing the president’s "tripled up" characterization.
IRGC mine-laying, small boats, and the threat picture
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has long invested in small-boat capabilities that can carry short-range anti-ship missiles, rockets and lay mines, the War Zone noted. Axios reported, citing a U.S. official and other sources, that the IRGC laid more mines in the Strait in recent days and that U.S. officials “know how many new mines Iran has deployed” but declined to disclose the number. Before the recent uptick, analysts had estimated fewer than 100 mines had been deployed.
Iranian messaging portrays the situation differently. Speaker of Iran’s Parliament Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf posted that "In Iran, there are no radicals or moderates; we are all ‘Iranian’ and ‘revolutionary’" and pledged unity and obedience to the Supreme Leader. Separately, deputy speaker Hamidreza Hajibabaei said Iran "has control over this Strait," and parliamentary deputy Alireza Salimi described new transit fees, saying the amount collected depends on cargo and assessed risk; The War Zone noted it cannot independently verify those financial claims.
Maritime interdictions, blockade activity, and economic ripple effects
The Pentagon reported an overnight maritime interdiction and right-of-visit boarding of the sanctioned stateless vessel M/T Majestic X—IMO 9198317, also known as Phonix—transporting oil from Iran in the Indian Ocean within INDOPACOM. Pentagon video shows MH-60S Seahawk helicopters and troops rappelling onto the tanker, with a U.S. Navy Expeditionary Sea Base providing support. MarineTraffic data placed the Guyana-flagged crude oil tanker about 200 miles east of Sri Lanka and roughly 2,000 miles southeast of Iran, though the Pentagon declined to provide further details.
CENTCOM announced that U.S. forces have directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of a blockade of Iranian ports. The Joint Maritime Information Center described maritime security across the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz as "CRITICAL," noting constrained commercial traffic and routing uncertainty. The United Nations reported that one-third of global fertilizers are stalled in the Strait of Hormuz, while AFP cited a Panama Canal official saying one LNG carrier paid $4 million to skip a line caused by diverted traffic.
What this means for the U.S. Navy, Iranian maritime forces, and commercial shipping
- U.S. Navy: Commanders will be balancing kinetic engagement orders with the practical limits of MCM capacity—the Pentagon told Congress it could take six months to clear mines from the Strait—and the demands of broader force posture, including three carrier strike groups and massed air assets in the region.
- IRGC and Iranian maritime forces: Reports of renewed mine-laying and continued small-boat and USV capabilities signal both tools for interdiction and an escalation ladder that Tehran’s proxies or naval units can employ in the waterways.
- Commercial shipping and global trade: The strait’s closure and interdiction activity have re-routed traffic, congested alternative passages like the Panama Canal, and left critical cargos such as fertilizers stalled—effects underscored by the UN’s warning about looming food-security impacts.
The immediate operational picture remains fluid: the president has given explicit rules of engagement for small boats suspected of mine-laying, but the mix of mine-countermeasure resources en route, reported new Iranian mining, ongoing interdictions far from the Gulf, and diplomatic efforts around ceasefires and Israel–Lebanon talks means naval commanders, shipping firms, and governments must navigate overlapping military, legal and economic pressures. The original report is here: https://www.twz.com/news-features/trump-puts-out-kill-order-on-irans-small-boats.
