US military intercepts another Iranian ship

Defense &National Security

US military intercepts another Iranian ship

The U.S. military said on Thursday that its forces seized an Iranian oil tanker in the Indian Ocean overnight as part of the naval blockade approved by President Trump. 

The U.S. military boarded the M/T Majestic X, which the Pentagon characterized as a “sanctioned, stateless vessel,” in a post on social media. 

“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” the Pentagon said. 

The vessel is the third seized by the U.S. this week amid Trump’s blockade of Iran’s trade by sea. 

A Navy destroyer is escorting Iran’s oil tanker Dorena after the U.S. said it had tried to violate the blockade. The U.S. military boarded the M/T Tifani, another stateless vessel that had been sanctioned for transporting Iranian oil.

The U.S. military has redirected 33 ships since the U.S. naval blockade against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz went into effect, the U.S. Central Command said on Thursday. 

Earlier on Thursday, Trump said he ordered the Navy to “shoot and kill any boat” laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. There is to be no hesitation,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

Read the full report at thehill.com.

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