Iran live updates: US shoots down 2 Iranian drones attempting to strike ships in Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump confirmed that the U.S. will continue to bomb Iran on Thursday but speculated that Americans may not have the "appetite" for a ground operation which would see the U.S. seize pieces of Iranian territory.

"Yeah, there will be more bombing tonight. It'll be a bigger, bigger, more powerful," Trump said, in an interview with Fox News.

Trump said that his preference was “always” to try to take Kharg Island, a major Iranian oil processing site in the Persian Gulf but said that he did not want to have boots on the ground and wondered if Americans would accept such an operation.

"But, you know, look, my preference has always been take Kharg Island," Trump said. Adding, "I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with you."

Trump noted that the process of seizing Iranian territory would be "a little longer process."

“I'm not sure that America has a long time. It's a little longer process. Something that's a guarantee if I want to do it. But I'm not sure the country has the appetite for it,” he explained.

Later during the interview, Trump said that he didn’t want to use ground troops, but said that the U.S. would “walk in” to Iran tomorrow and “take over the whole place.”

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the U.S. would continue to bomb Iran Thursday night and teased that American forces will take over Kharg Island and other Iranian oil infrastructure points “in the not too distant future.”

Trump added that the U.S. will also assume "total control” of Iranian oil and gas markets, comparing it to the situation in Venezuela after the ouster of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump did not say what the timeline for such an operation would be, nor what type of force would be required to execute such a mission that would see the U.S. taking and holding Iranian territory and infrastructure.

The president’s post comes after days of tit-for-tat strikes between the U.S. and Iran, which have raised the specter of a return to all-out war amid questions about the status of the shaky, months-long ceasefire.

U.S. Central Command said in a post to X that its forces attacked the Guinea-Bissau flagged M/T Jalveer oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, alleging that it "violated the blockade against Iran by attempting to transport Iranian oil."

"A U.S. aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles into the ship's engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from U.S. forces," CENTCOM said.

The vessel is the third commercial ship disabled by American forces this week, CENTCOM said.

Earlier this week, CENTCOM said that U.S. aircraft disabled Palau-flagged vessels M/T Marivex and M/T Settebello on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, both of which were accused of violating the U.S. blockade.

CENTCOM said its forces have disabled nine "non-compliant vessels, redirected 135 ships that complied and allowed 42 vessels supporting humanitarian aid to pass since initiating the blockade on April 13."

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre said on Thursday that a fire had been reported in the engine room of a tanker off the coast of Oman.

Local authorities reported the incident occurred about 20 nautical miles northeast of Sohar, Oman, the UKMTO warning said. There were no reports of casualties or environmental damage.

The latest maritime incident comes one day after three Indian sailors aboard the M/T Settebello oil tanker were killed by a U.S. strike.

U.S. Central Command said the Palau-flagged vessel violated its ongoing blockade by attempting to transport oil from Iran.

The U.S. fired precision munitions at the ship's engine room "after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from American forces," CENTCOM said in a post to X.

Sarbananda Sonowal, India's shipping minister, confirmed the "deeply unfortunate" incident in a post to X and said that the bodies of the three seafarers were recovered.

-ABC News' Othon Leyva