Iran live updates: Trump orders Navy to 'shoot,' 'kill' boats putting mines in strait

_{Apr 23, 12:38 PM}

CENTCOM says 33 ships have been turned around in blockade

U.S. Central Command said that 33 vessels have been turned back as part of its blockade on ships leaving from or heading to Iranian ports. Most of those ships have been oil tankers.

_{Apr 23, 10:08 AM}

Trump says Iran having a 'hard time' figuring out who is in charge

President Donald Trump indicated Thursday morning that there is no centralized leader in Iran right now, claiming that the government has been fractured between moderates and hardliners as the U.S. indefinitely extends its ceasefire with the country.

“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!” Trump said in a social media post.

“The infighting is between the ‘Hardliners,’ who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY!” he added.

Trump’s post comes days after the U.S. extended its ceasefire indefinitely, citing divisions within the Iranian government that are hindering negotiations on a peace deal.

Trump also again claimed that the U.S. has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz even as Iranian attacks on merchant ships have continued this week and traffic through the region remains severely limited.

-ABC News' Nicholas Kerr

_{Apr 23, 9:10 AM}

Trump says he ordered Navy to 'shoot,' 'kill' boats putting mines in strait

President Donald Trump said in a Thursday social media post that he ordered the Navy to "shoot and kill" any boats putting mines in the waters of 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," Trump wrote.

"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!" Trump added.

There are currently no U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz , but there are 17 U.S. Navy ships east of the strait in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. So far, all of the previous attacks on Iranian mine-laying ships have been from the air.

The president’s post comes a day after the Washington Post reported that a Pentagon assessment found that clearing Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz could take as long as six months. 

It is currently unclear if Iranian mine-laying operations remain underway in the Strait amid the ceasefire. The regime previously declared that it had mined a wide swath of the strait off of the coast of Oman. 

-ABC News' Luis Martinez and Nicholas Kerr

_{Apr 23, 8:25 AM}

Iranian oil passing through US blockade, maritime tracking groups say

Cargo tracking group Vortexa told ABC News it identified 34 sanctioned or Iranian-linked ships moving in and out of the Gulf of Oman through the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports which came into effect on April 13.

Fifteen of those were inbound toward Iran, while 19 were outbound away from Iran.

Of the observed outbound movements, six of the ships were confirmed to be laden with approximately 10.7 million barrels of Iranian crude oil.

However, after Vortexa shared its data and media outlets named three of those ships, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) publicly refuted that the three named ships had evaded the blockade.

CENTCOM said two of those ships -- the Hero II and Hedy -- had returned to an Iranian port, and that the third -- the Dorena -- was "under the escort of a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean after previously attempting to violate the blockade."

It was not immediately clear whether the M/T Majestic X, which the U.S. announced Thursday it had interdicted in the Indian Ocean for carrying oil from Iran, was also one of the ships tracked as having moved through the blockade.

Vortexa said that the blockade is having some effect but, "based on observed vessel activity, flows have continued, although in a more constrained and selective environment."

TankerTrackers.com, a maritime intelligence company that tracks crude oil shipments, told ABC News that they observed nine shipments of Iranian oil pass through the U.S. blockade between April 13 and 20, one of which has been sent back to Iran.

Of the nine shipments, eight were tankers belonging to Iran's National Iranian Tanker Company and one was independently-owned.

-ABC News' Victoria Beaule and Chris Looft

_{Apr 23, 8:07 AM}

US boards Iran-linked tanker in the Indian Ocean

The Pentagon said in a post to X on Thursday that U.S. forces interdicted and boarded the M/T Majestic X tanker in the Indian Ocean overnight, a vessel it said was "transporting oil from Iran" as part of Tehran's illicit oil fleet.

The seizure is the second this week 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 Pentagon said.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

_{Apr 23, 6:28 AM}

1st Strait of Hormuz toll revenues banked, Iran lawmaker says

Hamidreza Hajibabaei, the deputy speaker of Iran's parliament, said Thursday that the first revenues from Iran's new tolls on shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz have been deposited into the state's central bank account, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

"We have control over this Strait," Hajibabaei said, speaking at a public gathering in the western city of Kuhdasht.

"If the United States continues on its current course, no vessels will pass through the Strait of Hormuz," Hajibabaei said. He added, "We are not engaged in negotiations -- rather, we are making demands."

Alireza Salimi, another member of the Iranian parliament, confirmed the deposit of the revenues in an interview with the semi-official Tasnim News Agency on Thursday.

"The amount collected from each ship depends on its cargo and level of risk they pose," Salimi said, as quoted by Tasnim.

"Iran determines how much and how these fees are collected, in other words, we determine the rules," Salimi said.

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian

_{Apr 23, 6:13 AM}

IDF to retain positions in south Lebanon amid ceasefire, spokesperson says

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post to X on Thursday that Israeli forces will maintain their positions in southern Lebanon amid the current ceasefire with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Adraee warned displaced people "not to move south" of the front line dictated by the IDF, nor to approach the Litani River area, Wadi Salhani or Saluki.

Adraee listed 57 villages to which people will not be allowed to return.

_{Apr 23, 5:21 AM}

Lebanon-Israel talks expected in Washington on Thursday

Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors are expected to convene again at the State Department on Thursday for a second round of meetings amid the latest conflagration in the Middle East.

The first direct negotiations between the two states since 1993 are intended as preparatory meetings to shape future talks on a deal to normalize ties between the countries.

Thursday's meeting is expected to focus on extending a shaky ceasefire that has halted fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

The technocratic government in Beirut, which came to power in 2025, is juggling dual pressure campaigns -- sustained Israeli attacks and seizure of Lebanese territory on one hand and the internal threat of Hezbollah and its Iranian backers on the other.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Tuesday that the goal of the negotiations was to "stop hostilities, end the Israeli occupation of southern regions and deploy the [Lebanese] army all the way to the internationally recognized southern borders."

Paul Salem, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think tank, told ABC news that Thursday's talks are "historically significant in what they might eventually lead to," but framed the meetings as the first steps on a long and difficult road.

The government in Beirut is facing "a prolonged conundrum," Salem said. "Iran is insisting on maintaining its presence and backing Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah seems to be happy to continue to play their role with Iran."

And in southern Lebanon, Israel seems intent on a devastating campaign and seizure of land which its Defense Minister Israel Katz has repeatedly said will be modeled on the destruction of Gaza.

"The Lebanese state needs to be able to bolster its credibility by not allowing a long-term Israeli occupation," Salem said.

_{Apr 23, 3:40 AM}

Lebanon's Aoun says Israel targets journalists to hide 'aggressive acts'

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's office published a statement to X on Thursday alleging that Israel's "deliberate and consistent targeting of journalists" is aimed at "concealing the truth of its aggressive acts against Lebanon."

The president's statement came after Israeli forces killed journalist Amal Khalil, who worked for Lebanon's Al Akhbar newspaper, in an attack in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

Lebanese authorities said Khalil was directly targeted and accused Israeli forces of firing on rescue workers trying to reach her. Journalist Zainab Faraj was also injured in the attack, authorities said.

Such attacks constitute "crimes against humanity," Aoun's office said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also condemned the killing in a post to X, in which he described Israeli actions as "war crimes."

-ABC News' Kevin Shalvey

_{Apr 23, 3:15 AM}

CENTCOM says 31 vessels turned back during blockade

U.S. Central Command said in a post to X on Wednesday night that it had directed 31 vessels "to turn around or return to port" as part of the ongoing U.S. blockade of Iranian shipping.

-ABC News' Kevin Shalvey