US PRESIDENT Donald Trump in a morning social media post ordered the US military to “shoot and kill” Iranian small boats choking the Strait of Hormuz. Trump also said the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the critical waterway. “I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be... That is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted. “There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine “sweepers” are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!” Meanwhile, the US military seized another tanker on Thursday associated with smuggling Iranian oil. The US Defence Department said it seized the oil tanker Majestic X in the Indian Ocean. “We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” the Defence Department said.

 

The seizure comes after Iran attacked three cargo ships Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, capturing two of them. The Defence Department released footage of the seizure of the vessel, showing US troops on the deck of the vessel. Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, earlier seized by American forces.

 

 

INTERIOR Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday met US Charge d’Affaires to Pakistan, Natalie Baker and discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts to hold a second round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad, according to an official statement. The meeting comes amid stepped-up diplomatic engagements aimed at bringing Tehran and Washington to the negotiating table, possibly by the weekend. Naqvi and Baker held an ‘important meeting’ during which they exchanged detailed views on the latest regional situation and discussed diplomatic efforts related to the proposed second round of peace talks, the interior ministry said in a statement. Naqvi welcomed US President Donald Trump’s initiative to extend the ceasefire, calling it a ‘welcome development’ that made significant progress towards reducing tensions. “We also hope for positive progress from Iran’s side,” the Minister said. Meanwhile, Lebanon and Israel began a second session of direct talks in Washington on Thursday to discuss the possibility of extending a truce between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and plans for future negotiations between the two neighbours with a long history of hostile relations. The meeting between Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad and her Israeli counterpart Yechiel Leiter is the second between the two diplomats, days after they held the first such direct talks between the two countries in three decades.