Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy said it seized two container vessels for maritime violations as tensions escalate over competing blockades in the strategic waterway.
2:53 PM
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that its naval forces had seized two cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, according to state media reports. The vessels, identified as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas, were seized for attempting to navigate the contested strait "without the necessary permits," according to a statement shared by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.
The seizures came hours after President Trump extended a ceasefire agreement with Iran. The Revolutionary Guard Navy statement said the ships were being directed toward Iran's coast and added: "Disrupting the order and security of the Strait of Hormuz is our red line."
Earlier Wednesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British Navy agency, reported that two cargo vessels had been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media also reported that a third vessel had been targeted by the country's military.
The incident reflects escalating tensions over control of the strategically vital waterway. The Strait of Hormuz handles approximately 20 percent of the world's oil and liquefied fossil gas during peacetime. Iran has severely limited shipping through the strait since the start of the war with Israel and the United States, while the U.S. military has established a counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the U.S. naval blockade is one of the main obstacles to negotiations with Washington. "Breach of commitments, blockade and threats are main obstacles to genuine negotiations," he wrote on social media, adding that the world sees "endless hypocritical rhetoric and contradiction between claims and actions."
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament and lead negotiator, said late Wednesday that reopening the strait would be "impossible" while the U.S. and Israel committed "flagrant" breaches of the ceasefire, including the U.S. naval blockade, which he characterized as "the hostage-taking of the world's economy" and "Zionist warmongering." He stated that the U.S. and Israel "did not achieve their goals through military aggression, nor will they through bullying."
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