ALSO SEE: China’s Young Tapping AI, Subsidies to Launch One Person Firms Despite an extension to their fragile ceasefire on Wednesday, the United States and Iran seem no closer to resuming peace talks. ‘Boats laying mines will be destroyed’ President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed that the United States would destroy any vessel laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, as he rachets up pressure on Iran to reopen the crucial sea passage. “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,” Trump posted.

“There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine ‘sweepers’ are clearing the Strait right now.” Earlier, the US Defense Department said its forces boarded a vessel in the Indian Ocean that was transporting oil from Iran, as disruption from a stand-off with the Islamic republic continued to batter the world economy. The announcement came hours after a senior Iranian official said the country had banked the first proceeds from tolls it is exacting on shipping through the a waterway that has become the focal point of its confrontation with the United States.

Iran vowed it would keep the strait closed to all but a trickle of approved vessels for as long as the United States blockaded its ports, brushing off demands from President Donald Trump to both reopen Hormuz and surrender its enriched uranium. Earlier this month, the US imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports, and on Thursday the Pentagon announced on X that US forces had “carried out a maritime interdiction and right-of-visit boarding of the sanctioned stateless vessel M/T Majestic X transporting oil from Iran, in the Indian Ocean”. The post included footage of US military personnel rappelling from helicopters onto the deck of a large tanker.

The statement said the US would “continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate.” ‘Blockade will force the US to back down’ But Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran’s delegation at a first round of talks in Pakistan, said: “A complete ceasefire only has meaning if it is not violated through a naval blockade. “Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not possible amid a blatant violation of the ceasefire.” His deputy, Hamidreza Hajibabaei, said Iran received its first revenue from tolls it is imposing on ships seeking to cross Hormuz, a route that in peacetime accounts for a fifth of the world’s oil and gas flows, and other vital commodities.

Analysts said hardline leaders associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) believe that Iran’s blockade gives it sufficient economic leverage to force Washington to back down on its main demands in peace talks. Danny Citrinowicz of the Tel-Aviv Institute for National Security Studies says Israel and the US have misread the Iranian government’s position. “Tehran has consistently demonstrated a willingness to absorb economic pain while holding firm on what it views as core national interests.

There is little reason to believe this time will be different,” he said in a social media post. “Rather than moving toward concession, Iran is positioning itself to escalate.” And a brief from the Soufan Center think tank said Iran’s hardliners “argue that a prolonged elevation of global energy prices and mounting global shortages of some goods will increasingly pressure Trump to accede to Iran’s positions, end the war, and eventually withdraw US forces from the region. “Trump and his team calculate the opposite – that the US blockade of Iran’s seaborne trade, which carries all of its oil exports, will quickly cripple Iran’s economy and force Iran to accept US demands.” The US President, however, had a different take on the status quo, posting on social media: “Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is!

They just don’t know! The infighting is between the “Hardliners,” who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the “Moderates,” who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY! “We have total control over the Strait of Hormuz.

No ship can enter or leave without the approval of the United States Navy. It is “Sealed up Tight,” until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!” Asian markets down European nations, meanwhile, are preparing to send navy vessels and minesweepers to help ensure ships ca