US President Donald Trump on Thursday (April 23, 2026) ordered the US Navy to ‘destroy’ any Iranian boat laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. This order of the US President has come at a time when Pakistan has intensified its diplomatic efforts to bring America and Iran to the table for talks for the second time.
The US President posted, ‘I have ordered the US Navy to fire and destroy any boat, even small, laying mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz.’ He wrote, ‘There should not be any kind of hesitation. In addition, our demining equipment is currently clearing the strait. He said, ‘I order that this work should be continued, but at three times more speed.’
Trump also said that the US military is intensifying efforts to remove mines from this important sea route. This step has been taken a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) attacked three cargo ships in the strait and captured two of them.
The US Defense Department on Thursday released video footage of the US military presence on the deck of the Majestic X, a Guinea-flagged oil tanker seized in the Indian Ocean. “We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels that provide material support to Iran, no matter where they operate,” a Pentagon statement said.
There was no immediate reaction from Iran on the news of this incident. This week Trump extended the ceasefire period to give the embattled Iranian leadership more time to present a ‘unified proposal’ to end the war. But the American blockade on Iranian ports will continue. There was no immediate indication whether the earlier peace talks hosted by Pakistan would resume soon.
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In a separate post on Thursday, Trump claimed that the ongoing leadership rift between moderates and radicals is confusing Iran. Trump said, ‘Iran is having a very difficult time understanding who their leader is. They just don’t know. At the same time, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday described the attacks by America and Israel on Iran as the root cause of insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to Iranian media, during a meeting with South Korea’s special envoy to Iran Chung Byeong-ha, Araghchi said that Iran has tried to protect its security and national interests. Meanwhile, Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who is trying to bring America and Iran to the negotiating table, met US Deputy Ambassador Natalie Baker on Thursday and discussed diplomatic efforts to hold the second round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad.
The meeting comes amid stepped-up diplomatic efforts aimed at bringing Iran and the US to the negotiating table, possibly by the weekend. The Home Ministry said in a statement that Naqvi and Baker held an “important meeting” in which they had detailed discussions on the latest situation in the region and discussed diplomatic efforts related to the proposed second round of peace talks.
Naqvi welcomed the initiative taken by US President Trump to extend the ceasefire and called it a ‘positive step’. He said that this has resulted in significant progress in reducing tension. The minister said, ‘We also expect positive progress from Iran’s side.’ Naqvi and Baker stressed the need to maintain diplomatic channels for a permanent solution to the West Asian conflict.
According to the statement, Naqvi told Baker that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Asim Munir were making ‘every effort at all levels’ for a peaceful resolution. The minister said, ‘It is hoped that both sides will give a chance to a diplomatic and peaceful solution.’
This is the second meeting between the two this week amid uncertainty over the talks. Tight security arrangements were made in Islamabad for the proposed talks. On Monday, Naqvi held separate meetings with Baker and Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Raza Amiri Moghadam to discuss preparations for the second round of Islamabad talks.
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