INDIAN OCEAN — U.S. forces imposed a blockade on maritime traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports on April 13 and boarded the M/T Majestic X, a sanctioned vessel carrying Iranian oil, in the Indian Ocean. Under the blockade, U.S. Central Command ordered 33 vessels to return to port.

The Department of Defense said it will continue to stop ships suspected of providing material support to Iran anywhere they operate. U.S. forces also detained the M/T Tifani in the Bay of Bengal under a right-of-visit maritime interdiction.

President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. Navy to shoot and kill any boats laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. "US mine sweepers are clearing the Strait of Hormuz right now," Trump said. He said the blockade was "100% effective" and Iran is "getting no business."

Trump said he rejected an offer from Iran to reopen the strait three days earlier, saying "it will open when we make a deal." He said the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would remain in place and that military forces were ordered to stay ready and able.

The Pentagon dismissed reports suggesting U.S. forces may require six months to remove mines from the Strait of Hormuz. Pentagon Chief Spokesman Sean Parnell said one assessment "does not mean the assessment is plausible, and a six-month closure of the Strait of Hormuz is an impossibility and completely unacceptable to the Secretary."

Iran called a U.S. ship interception earlier in the week an act of "piracy." The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters accused Washington of "armed piracy" after the U.S. seized an Iranian commercial vessel in the Sea of Oman and said its navigation systems had been disabled.

Iran's navy said it seized two cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz and took them to its coast after reports that three vessels were fired on by Iranian forces. An Iranian gunboat fired on a container vessel near the coast of Oman, causing heavy damage to the bridge, with no fires, environmental impact, or casualties reported, and all crew safe.

John Stawpert, marine director of the International Chamber of Shipping, said seafarers must be allowed to go about their business "freely and without persecution." The organization represents about 80 percent of the world's merchant fleet.