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THIS is the moment US jets blitz Iranian boats laying sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz after Trump raged “remove them now”.
The US President slammed Iran over reports the regime was deploying sea mines to further wreak havoc in the Strait of Hormuz.
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In footage released by U.S. Central Command on X, Iranian minelayers are wiped out by blasts under the cover of night.
US War Secretary Pete Hegseth said 16 naval vessels were eliminated.
American intelligence agencies had detected the rogue regime’s deployment of smaller crafts across the crucial waterway, according to CBS News.
Those boats can carry two and three mines each and were being stationed across the vital shipping route.
Once in place, a mine would blow any passing oil tanker out of the water.
The exact size of Iran’s mine stockpile is not publicly known, but estimates suggest the country may possess between 2,000 and 6,000 naval mines, including Iranian, Chinese and Russian-made variants.
Hundreds or thousands of detonatable mines in the narrow strait would block safe access to the passage to the 80 or so tankers that pass through each day.
Read The Sun’s live blog coverage of the Iran war
The President lashed out at the Islamic regime on Truth Social on Tuesday evening, demanding Iran remove the mines “IMMEDIATELY!”.
Trump said, “if for any reason mines were placed, and they are not removed forthwith, the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before.”
“If, on the other hand, they remove what may have been placed, it will be a giant step in the right direction!”
He added the US had no reports at that stage that the intelligence was correct.
Trump also said the US was using the same technology deployed against drug traffickers to “permanently eliminate any boat or ship attempting to mine the Hormuz Strait.”
The Pentagon said earlier on Tuesday that it was striking Iranian mine-laying vessels and mine storage facilities.
The US-Israel war against Iran has already effectively halted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, along Iran’s coast, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.
On Monday, Trump warned Tehran would face “death, fire and fury” if it tried to block the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, declared in response: “Iran does not fear your paper threats.”
“Strait of Hormuz will either be a Strait of peace and prosperity for all or will be a Strait of defeat and suffering for warmongers.”
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Around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is transported through the Hormuz — a Persian Gulf chokepoint.
It comes as prices have rocketed over fears the war in Iran will disrupt supplies of oil passing through the Middle East.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) previously said the vital trade route in the Gulf was closed to ships from the US, Europe and Israel.
They then claimed to have hit a US oil tanker sailing through the Strait.
Mammoth tankers laden with fuel supplies for Europe, China, India and Japan are now moored off Dubai and, further to the east, Oman.
Any lengthy blockade of the Strait could cause UK energy bills, the price of goods and inflation to soar.
Washington’s top general said the US military had started looking at ways to potentially escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, should it be ordered to do so.
“We’re looking at a range of options there,” General Dan Caine told reporters at the Pentagon.
However, the US Navy has so far refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright posted on X on Tuesday that the US Navy had successfully escorted an oil tanker through the waterway, but later deleted the post.
English (US) · 