The United States military has destroyed 16 Iranian naval vessels near the Strait of Hormuz in a preemptive strike after intelligence confirmed that Iran had begun laying mines in the narrow waterway through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s daily oil supply passes.
A senior US official told Axios the strike on the vessels was a preemptive measure based on intelligence about Iran’s operational plans, adding that Iran’s deployment of mines would create an extreme threat for commercial shipping and prevent any oil from leaving through the strait.
President Trump announced the strikes in a series of posts on Truth Social, warning Iran. In his words “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” adding that the US was using missile capabilities deployed against drug traffickers to permanently eliminate any boat or ship attempting to mine the Hormuz Strait. “They will be dealt with quickly and violently,” he said.
Trump had earlier threatened on Monday night that Iran would be hit by the United States twenty times harder than it already has if the country did anything to block the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. “I will not allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and attempt to stop the globe’s oil supply,” he declared. He also said during a CBS News interview that he was thinking about taking over the Strait of Hormuz entirely to ensure it remains open a move legal experts immediately flagged as problematic.
Alexander Freeman, a partner at UK law firm Hill Dickinson, noted that the US has no jurisdiction over the strait, which falls under the sovereign territorial waters of Iran and Oman under international law.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, fired back directly at Trump. “The sacrificial nation of Iran doesn’t fear your empty threats,” he wrote on X. He went further, issuing what many observers described as a thinly veiled personal threat. “Even those bigger than you couldn’t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself,” Larijani posted , a statement that immediately drew widespread attention given the United States’ previous accusations that Iran had plotted to assassinate Trump.
The IRGC declared that the Strait of Hormuz will either be a strait of peace and prosperity for all or a strait of defeat and suffering for warmongers, while the Revolutionary Guard spokesperson said flatly that “Iran will determine when the war ends.”
Oil prices have surged more than 30 percent since the war began. For Nigeria the consequences are direct and severe. Every dollar added to the global crude price feeds into what Nigerians pay at the pump and with petrol already at N1,200 to N1,400 per litre in Abuja, the trajectory of this conflict could push domestic fuel prices way higher and that would be devastating for millions of already struggling households.
