On the morning of April 23, 2026, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he had ordered the U.S. Navy “to shoot and kill any boat” laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. “There is to be no hesitation,” he wrote, adding that he is ordering U.S. minesweepers to continue clearing the strait “at a tripled up level!”
Less than two hours later, Trump posted again: “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!!!” Within 15 minutes, he reposted a Washington Post opinion piece headlined “Trump doesn't need a deal to get what he wants from Iran,” writing: “Very true!!!”
The order came as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports has ground tanker traffic in the strait to a fraction of pre-war volume. More than 100 ships, including dozens of tankers, would normally transit the Hormuz strait each day. On April 22, only eight ships transited, including three oil tankers (per LSEG tracking data). U.S. Central Command said it has so far directed 31 ships to turn around or return to port as part of the blockade.
Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said April 22: “Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible” as long as the U.S. blockade is in place. Trump's “shoot and kill” order is the most explicit lethal-force authorization for the strait theater issued since the war began.
The order intersects directly with Brown University's Costs of War Project finding, published the same day, that the Trump administration's separate boat-strike campaign in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific has already killed at least 180 people in unarmed civilian vessels — none of whom have been charged with a crime in any U.S. court. The combined rhetorical and actual posture is that the U.S. military is authorized to kill at sea, before any judicial process, in two separate theaters at the order of one man.