Trump orders US navy to ‘shoot and kill’ Iranian mine boats in Hormuz

NewsWorldMiddle EastTrump orders US navy to ‘shoot and kill’ Iranian mine boats in HormuzIranians are ‘having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is’ says presidentJames C. Reynolds Thursday 23 April 2026 17:01 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2963705","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/donald-trump-us-iran-navy-strait-hormuz-b2963705.html","title":"Trump tells US navy to ‘shoot to kill’ Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz"}}CloseTrump orders navy to immediately ‘shoot and kill’ all Iran’s mine boats in Strait of HormuzOn The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_On_The_Ground_Newsletter","regTitle":"On The Ground","subscriptionGroup":"on_the_ground","subscriptionGroupId":"14806361-6435-4d19-b06e-05326605fb01","pathPrefix":["/news/world/europe","/news/world/middle-east","/news/world/australasia","/news/world/africa","/asia"],"associatedAuthors":["Bel Trew","Sam Kiley"],"title":"On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","mobileTitle":"Get a weekly international news dispatch","lengthenedMobileTitle":"Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/onTheGround1_1.png","newsletterKey":"receiveOnTheGround","regSourceSection":"Middle East","regSourceMethod":"NSCs"}}Donald Trump has ordered the US navy to ‘shoot to kill’...