Trump orders Navy to 'shoot and kill' mine-laying boats in Strait of Hormuz

President Trump issued a stark military directive on Thursday: the US Navy would open fire on any vessel attempting to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz. He announced the order on Truth Social, stating there would be "no hesitation" and that American minesweepers were already clearing the waterway at triple their current pace. The declaration came as the US maintains a blockade of Iran-linked shipping in the strategic chokepoint, a measure Trump imposed on April 13 and has now extended indefinitely, claiming total American control over the passage.

Trump's threat targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which operates a fleet of small attack boats equipped with mounted machine guns—vessels that could theoretically be used for mining operations, though the US has not confirmed Iranian ships have actually been laying mines. The broader context is stark: during the bombing campaign that began February 28 and lasted until a ceasefire on April 8, the US destroyed Iran's conventional navy almost entirely, sinking or heavily damaging all 159 of its major warships. What remains are these smaller IRGC craft, some of which apparently survived the air campaign.

Alongside the military threat, Trump claimed Iran was paralyzed by internal division. He wrote that the country was "having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is," describing a split between hardliners who had "been losing BADLY on the battlefield" and moderates gaining ground. The characterization was meant to suggest Iran could not mount an effective response to American pressure or negotiate coherently in ceasefire talks.

But reporting from The New York Times painted a different picture of Iran's actual power structure. The new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei—who took office after his father Ali Khamenei was killed in the February 28 strikes along with his wife and son—has not appeared publicly since his appointment. Multiple sources told the Times that Khamenei was severely injured in that same strike and is awaiting a prosthetic leg and possible facial reconstruction. He communicates through handwritten notes carried by couriers, avoiding any video or audio statement that might expose his condition to the world.

This incapacity has created a genuine power vacuum, but not the kind Trump described. Rather than moderates gaining influence, the hardline IRGC has consolidated control. Senior Iranian officials avoid visiting Khamenei out of fear that Israel would target them there. As a result, Khamenei has delegated much of security decision-making to IRGC generals, who have sidelined civilian figures like President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi—both of whom have shown openness to negotiating with the US. The IRGC replaced Araghchi as lead negotiator with parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, an IRGC-aligned figure. When Pezeshkian and Araghchi warned of economic catastrophe from continued fighting, it was IRGC generals on Iran's National Security Council who shut down talks, citing the American blockade as making negotiations pointless.

Meanwhile, Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that his country was prepared to resume the war. In a security assessment, Katz said the Israeli military was "ready in defense and offense" with "targets marked." He stated that Israel was awaiting a "green light from the United States" to strike Iranian energy infrastructure and to "complete the elimination of the Khamenei dynasty." Katz described the goal as returning Iran to "the age of darkness and stone" by destroying central power and electricity facilities and crushing economic infrastructure. The statement made clear that any renewal of fighting would require American approval, and that Israel's ambitions extended beyond military targets to the regime's leadership itself.

The backdrop to all this is the ceasefire that took effect April 8. It was originally meant to last two weeks and was conditioned on Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Trump extended it hours before the early Wednesday deadline, but maintained the blockade, effectively keeping the waterway closed to Iranian shipping. The move left Iran in a position where it could not resume normal trade even as fighting officially paused. With the IRGC now controlling security policy and civilian negotiators sidelined, the question of whether Iran can or will make concessions to end the blockade remains open—and the military pressure from both the US and Israel continues to mount.