WASHINGTON/DUBAI/ISLAMABAD, Apr 23 — Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, tightening its grip on the strategic waterway a day after United States President Donald Trump announced he was indefinitely calling off attacks, with no sign of peace talks restarting.
The status of a two-week-old ceasefire, due to expire earlier this week, remained unclear. In a sharp about-turn hours after threatening renewed violence, Trump made what appeared to be a unilateral announcement on Tuesday that the United States would extend the ceasefire until it had discussed an Iranian proposal in peace talks to end the two-month-old war.
However, Iranian officials did not say they had agreed to any extension of the truce and criticised Trump’s decision to maintain the US Navy blockade of Iran’s trade by sea, which Tehran considers an act of war.
Iran’s parliament speaker and lead negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said a full ceasefire only made sense if the blockade was lifted. Reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint that carried a fifth of the world’s oil trade before the war, was impossible under what he called a “flagrant breach of the ceasefire”, he said on social media.
“You did not achieve your goals through military aggression and you will not achieve them by bullying either,” he wrote in his first response to Trump’s announcement. “The only way is recognising the Iranian people’s rights.”
Trump again backed away at the last moment from repeated threats to bomb Iran’s power plants and other civilian infrastructure, which the United Nations and others warn would violate international humanitarian law. However, little progress has been made in ending the war that started with joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
That leaves both sides in a holding pattern, with the crucial Strait of Hormuz still effectively shut, straining economies across the world. Thousands of people have been killed across the Middle East, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, where the Iran-allied Hezbollah militant group joined the fighting against Israel.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it had seized two vessels for maritime violations and escorted them to Iranian shores, according to shipping companies and Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. It was the first time Iran has seized ships since the war began at the end of February.
The Revolutionary Guards also warned that any disruption to order and safety in the strait would be considered a “red line”, Tasnim reported.
Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, closed above US$100 a barrel for the first time in two weeks. The ongoing blockade of the strait is driving up costs for businesses, while major economies draw down reserves and restrict consumption as millions of barrels are cut off from key markets.
No new deadline for ceasefire
In his Tuesday announcement, Trump said the United States had agreed to a request by Pakistani mediators “to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal … and discussions are concluded, one way or the other”.
He has not set any deadline for the proposal or discussions, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
Pakistan, which has acted as a mediator, was still trying to bring both sides together after they failed to attend tentatively scheduled talks in Islamabad on Tuesday before the ceasefire was due to expire.
Both Iran and the US-Israel alliance have continued to claim they are winning the war. Iran showcased ballistic weapons at a parade in Tehran on Tuesday evening, with state television showing large crowds waving Iranian flags and a banner depicting a fist choking off the strait.
Captions read: “Indefinitely under Iran’s Control” and “Trump could not do a damn thing”, referring to the strait, which Iran has effectively restricted to its own vessels and has recently targeted ships attempting transit without permission.
The Revolutionary Guards accused the seized vessels, the Liberia-flagged Epaminondas and Panama-flagged MSC Francesca, of operating without permits and interfering with navigation systems.
Greece’s Technomar Shipping confirmed its vessel Epaminondas had been captured. The ship reportedly came under fire about 20 nautical miles northwest of Oman, sustaining damage to its bridge, though no one was injured.
MSC, the world’s largest container shipping group, did not respond to a request for comment.
A third Liberia-flagged container ship was also fired upon in the same area but was not damaged and continued its journey, maritime security sources said.
The White House said the seizure was not a violation of the ceasefire as the vessels were neither US nor Israeli. However, it described the incident as an act of “piracy” and said Iran’s use of small gunboats showed its navy had been weakened and that it does not fully control the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the war, around 130 vessels crossed the strait daily, a figure that has fallen to just a handful since fighting began.
The US military said it had so far directed 29 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of its blockade against Iran. Beyond the Gulf, US forces have also intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged tankers in Asian waters, redirecting them from positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
