Sean JamesApr 13th, 2026, 10:45 am

President Donald Trump threatened to blow up any Iranian ships attempting to violate his newly imposed blockade on Monday morning, with the commander in chief saying any boats that try it will be “ELIMINATED” in the same way his administration attacked suspected drug-running boats from South America.

The president shared the grim warning in a post on Truth Social. It came 23 minutes after his blockade of the Strait of Hormuz went into effect at 10:00 a.m. ET.

“Iran’s Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated – 158 ships. What we have not hit are their small number of, what they call, ‘fast attack ships,’ because we did not consider them much of a threat,” Trump posted. “Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea.”

He continued, “It is quick and brutal. P.S. 98.2% of Drugs coming into the U.S. by Ocean or Sea have STOPPED! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Trump’s post comes the morning after he announced the blockade. His decision followed Vice President JD Vance heading to Pakistan for a marathon negotiating session with Iranian leaders in Pakistan; Vance became the highest-ranking U.S. politician to speak face-to-face with Iranian leaders since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but the two sides failed to reach a deal.

The vice president said the American delegation — which also included special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner — were “quite flexible” in what they were willing to do to get a deal done in Pakistan, but the Iranians did not bring the same mentality. He said the Trump administration was looking for an “affirmative commitment” that Iran would not seek a nuclear weapon. That didn’t happen, and the president announced his blockade shortly after.

Trump’s threat that Iranian boats will suffer the same fate as suspected drug-running boats comes after the U.S. military has struck dozens of Latin American vessels since last fall.

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