President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. forcibly seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on Sunday, which was attempting to circumvent a naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz. This marks the first such interception since the blockade of Iranian ports commenced last week. According to Trump, a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman \u201cstopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom.\u201d He added that U.S. Marines had taken custody of the vessel, identified as the Touska, and were \u201cseeing what\u2019s on board!\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran offered no immediate comment. This development cast doubt on Trump\u2019s earlier announcement that U.S. negotiators would travel to Pakistan on Monday for another round of talks with Iran. That announcement had fueled hopes of extending a fragile ceasefire due to expire by Wednesday, though Iran had not confirmed its attendance. The escalating standoff threatened to exacerbate the energy crisis impacting the global economy and push the two nations towards renewed conflict. Previous fighting has resulted in at least 3,000 deaths in Iran, nearly 2,300 in Lebanon, 23 civilians and 15 soldiers in Israel, and over a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Additionally, thirteen U.S. service members have been killed.<\/p>\n
**Iran’s Military Vows Swift Response to U.S. Seizure of Iranian-Flagged Tanker**
\nAccording to Iran\u2019s state-run broadcaster, the Iranian military headquarters condemned the attack and subsequent boarding of the Iranian vessel by U.S. forces as a violation of the ceasefire and an act of \u201cmaritime piracy.\u201d The United States, however, stated it fired upon and seized the ship because it had crossed the blockade line after disregarding multiple warnings.<\/p>\n
**Iranian State Media Suggests New Talks Unlikely**
\nIranian officials have not commented on Trump\u2019s announcement regarding new talks in Pakistan this week. Nevertheless, Iranian state media, citing unnamed sources, issued brief reports on Sunday indicating that the talks would not proceed. These reports emerged prior to the U.S. announcement of its seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
**CENTCOM Releases Video of U.S. Firing on Iranian-Flagged Vessel Touska**
\nU.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released a video on X showing a message sent by a U.S. Mariner to the Iranian-flagged tanker, depicting the moments before the U.S. seized the Touska for crossing the U.S.-imposed blockade line in the Gulf of Oman. The video features an audio warning: \u201cMotor vessel Touska, Motor vessel Touska. Vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We are about to subject you to disabling fire.\u201d Subsequently, three rounds are fired, leaving a trail of smoke. CENTCOM stated that its fire targeted the vessel\u2019s engine room before forces seized the ship. It further reported that the Touska was en route to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and disregarded multiple U.S. warnings over a six-hour period to evacuate the engine room. The USS Spruance then opened fire, after which Marines boarded and secured the ship. \u201cAmerican forces acted in a deliberate, professional, and proportional manner to ensure compliance,\u201d CENTCOM posted on X.<\/p>\n
**Iran\u2019s President Calls U.S. Blockade Actions Provocative and Illegal**
\nIran\u2019s judiciary\u2019s Mizan news agency reported on President Masoud Pezeshkian\u2019s phone conversation with Pakistan\u2019s prime minister earlier today. The report states that Pezeshkian alleged bullying and unreasonable behavior by the United States during negotiations and the ceasefire. Pezeshkian reportedly warned that U.S. actions and threatening rhetoric have heightened suspicion among Iranian officials regarding the seriousness of the United States and the possibility of it repeating previous patterns and \u201cbetraying diplomacy.\u201d The report did not specify whether Iran\u2019s president commented on a second round of talks in Pakistan, or on Trump\u2019s announcement that U.S. forces had seized an Iranian-flagged ship.<\/p>\n
**French Shipping Company Says One of Its Ships Was Targeted**
\nCMA CGM announced Sunday that one of its vessels was subjected to warning shots. Trump, however, claimed Iran had fired on French and British ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) confirmed the involvement of a French-flagged vessel. The IMO, which regulates international shipping, reported 24 incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and across the Middle East since March 1. The most recent, on April 18, involved the CMA CGM Everglade, a French-flagged container ship. The IMO stated it sustained damage north of Kumzar, Oman, though no pollution or injuries were reported. On Sunday, Trump stated on his social media platform, Truth Social, that Iran had \u201cfired bullets\u201d in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that \u201cmany of them were aimed at a French ship and a freighter from the United Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
**Trump: U.S. Forcibly Seized Iranian-Flagged Cargo Ship Attempting to Circumvent Naval Blockade**
\nIn a social media post, Trump stated that a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman warned the ship to stop, but it failed to comply. \u201cOur Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room,\u201d Trump wrote. He added that U.S. Marines had taken custody of the cargo ship, the Touska, and were \u201cseeing what\u2019s on board!\u201d This seizure escalates the ongoing dispute with Iran over maritime traffic in the strait and occurs as the U.S. was preparing for a second round of in-person talks with Iran, with a fragile ceasefire set to expire in days.<\/p>\n
#USNavy #Iran #StraitOfHormuz #NavalBlockade #CargoShipSeizure #Touska #GulfOfOman #USIranTensions #Diplomacy #MiddleEastConflict<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. forcibly seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on Sunday, which was attempting to circumvent a naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz. This marks the first such interception since the blockade of Iranian ports commenced last week. According to Trump, a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}