In a Thursday morning Truth Social post, President Donald Trump said he has ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill” any boat “that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz.”
The White House on Wednesday denied reports from Axios that Trump has a three-to-five-day deadline for Iran to accept a deal. “The president has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal, unlike some of the reporting we’ve seen today,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Leavitt said that Trump “is satisfied with the naval blockade.”
Iran’s speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted on X Wednesday that reopening the Strait of Hormuz is “impossible” while the U.S. and Israel continue “flagrant breaches of the ceasefire,” citing “the maritime blockade” and Israel’s “warmongering across all fronts.”
On Thursday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social that the U.S. has “total control over the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran on Wednesday released a video of its seizure of a container ship, which Tehran says occurred earlier that day.
Iran’s second deputy speaker of parliament, Hamidreza Haji Babaei, said Thursday that the first revenues from Iran’s Strait of Hormuz toll system had been deposited into the country’s Central Bank. The Financial Times previously reported that Iran is charging tankers $1 per barrel of oil as a transit fee under its toll system, to be paid in crypto and other alternative currencies.
U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that it has intercepted at least four Iranian oil tankers in waters near India, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka, redirecting them as part of its naval blockade targeting Iran. The fourth vessel, the Guyana-flagged M/T Majestic X, was seized overnight, en route to China.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israel is ready to resume fighting against Iran, and is waiting for a “green light from the United States” to target Iran’s leadership and energy sites. He said Israeli attacks “will be different and deadly.”
Prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was killed on Wednesday in southern Lebanon by what appeared to be a targeted Israeli strike. When a vehicle close to Khalil was hit by a drone, she and photojournalist Zeinab Faraj took shelter in a house, which was then bombed by Israel.
The price of Brent crude oil rose above $102 on Thursday morning while gas prices remained elevated. AAA reported the national average price of gas at $4.03.
Read the full article here
