Trump on social media said the ship was warned by a US Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman to stop
WASHINGTON:
President Donald Trump said the US forcibly seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that tried to get around a naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, the first such interception since the blockade of Iranian ports began last week.
Trump on social media said the ship was warned by a US Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman to stop, but it did not. He said the Navy “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room” and that US Marines had custody of the vessel, named Touska, and were “seeing what’s on board!”
There was no immediate Iran comment. The news threw into question Trump’s earlier announcement that US negotiators would head to Pakistan on Monday for another round of talks with Iran.
That had raised hopes of extending a fragile ceasefire set to expire by Wednesday, even as Washington and Tehran remain in a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has not confirmed it would attend. While its chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, said in an interview aired on state television late Saturday that “there will be no retreat in the field of diplomacy,” he acknowledged a wide gap remained between the sides.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials earlier on Sunday held firm that ships wouldn’t pass while the US blockade remained in effect. “It is impossible for others to pass through the Strait of Hormuz while we cannot,” Qalibaf said.
In his post about talks, Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire by firing at ships transiting the strait. Iran has called the US blockade a violation, and foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei on Sunday called it an “act of aggression.”
Iran had announced the strait’s reopening after a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon took hold on Friday. But Iran said it would continue enforcing its restrictions there after Trump said the U.S. blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the United States.
After a brief uptick in transit attempts on Saturday, Iran fired on two Indian-flagged merchant ships that were forced to turn around, leading India to summon Iran’s ambassador over the “serious incident.” India noted that Iran earlier let several India-bound ships through.
For the Islamic Republic, the strait’s closure – imposed after the US and Israel launched the Iran war on Feb 28 during talks over Tehran’s nuclear program – is perhaps its most powerful weapon, inflicting political pain on Trump. For the United States, the blockade squeezes Iran’s already weakened economy by denying it long-term cash flow.
The war – now in its eighth week – has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed.
