TRUMP has slammed Iran over reports the regime has deployed sea mines to further wreak havoc in the Strait of Hormuz.
US intelligence agencies are monitoring the rogue regime’s deployment of smaller crafts across the crucial waterway, according to CBS News.
Those boats can carry two and three mines each and are being stationed across the vital shipping route.
Once in place, a mine would blow any passing oil tanker out of the water.
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President Trump announced that within the last few hours, Washington “have hit, and completely destroyed, 10 inactive mine laying boats”.
It comes just moments after the president lashed out at the Islamic regime on Truth Social on Tuesday evening, demanding Iran remove the mines “IMMEDIATELY!”.
Trump said, “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!”
He added the US had no reports at that stage that the intelligence was correct.
On Monday, Trump warned Tehran would face “death, fire and fury” if it tried to block the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, declared in response: “Iran does not fear your paper threats.”
“Strait of Hormuz will either be a Strait of peace and prosperity for all or will be a Strait of defeat and suffering for warmongers.”
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Around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is transported through the Hormuz — a Persian Gulf chokepoint.
The exact size of Iran’s mine stockpile is not publicly known, but estimates over the years suggest the country may possess between 2,000 and 6,000 naval mines, including Iranian, Chinese and Russian-made variants.
It comes as prices have rocketed over fears the war in Iran will disrupt supplies of oil passing through the Middle East.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) previously said the vital trade route in the Gulf was closed to ships from the US, Europe and Israel.
They then claimed to have hit a US oil tanker sailing through the Strait.
Mammoth tankers laden with fuel supplies for Europe, China, India and Japan are now moored off Dubai and, further to the east, Oman.
Any lengthy blockade of the Strait could cause UK energy bills, the price of goods and inflation to soar.
