People walk past a picture of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei at a subway station in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. -

By AP

Last updated: 38 minutes ago

Iran

Iranian officials on Thursday refuted US President Donald Trump’s claims of a leadership rift in the country.

"The claims that you hear that Iran is fragmented or Iran can’t make a decision, this is kind of a projection," said Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baqaei, during an interview with SNN TV on Thursday.

Other Iranian officials also claimed on social media that the country was united.

“In Iran there are no ‘hardliners’ or ‘moderates’. We are all Iranians and revolutionaries,” Iran’s president, and Iran’s parliament speaker wrote in an almost identical statement on their social media.

Hours earlier, Trump said that Iran is going through a hard time “figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!“.

It comes as Trump has ordered the US military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the Strait of Hormuz, he said Thursday, a day after Iran again displayed its ability to thwart traffic through the channel.

Trump also announced that a ceasefire in Lebanon would be extended by three weeks.

His post on social media about the small boats came shortly after the US military seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Tehran over the strait through which 20% of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes

“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, adding that US minesweepers "are clearing the Strait right now.”

“I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!” he added.

The decision to extend a pause in fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon came during a meeting at the White House between representatives from Israel and Lebanon.

Meanwhile, it was still unclear when, or if, the US and Iran would meet again in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, where mediators are trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal ending that conflict.

Negotiations initially planned for this week have not happened.

Iran insists it will not attend until the US ends its blockade on Iranian ports and ships.

America insists it will not take part until Tehran opens the strait to international traffic.

Iran denies leadership division

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