(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened Iran with “consequences never seen before” if its forces lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz, as the Trump administration appears to be scrambling on how to deal with the war’s impact on the global oil market.
“If Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait, and we have no reports of them doing so, we want them removed, IMMEDIATELY!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“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!” the president added.
Not long after the initial post, Trump took to Truth Social again to claim that US forces “have hit, and completely destroyed, 10 inactive mine laying boats and/or ships, with more to follow!”
The president’s posts about the Strait of Hormuz came after US Energy Secretary Chris Wright claimed in a now-deleted tweet that the US Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the strategic waterway, a claim that turned out not to be true. The price of oil dropped after Wright’s post, then rose again after it was revealed to be false.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 31% of seaborne oil passed in 2025, is effectively closed and that any vessel wishing to pass must obtain Tehran’s permission.
“The claim of an oil tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz with a U.S. military escort is utterly false,” Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the IRGC’s Navy, said in a post on X on Tuesday. “Any passage of the US fleet and its allies will be halted by the net of Iranian missiles and suicide drones.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
