Tehran, Iran. Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz as U.S. President Donald Trump said he was indefinitely calling off attacks and announced the U.S. would extend a ceasefire pending discussions on an Iranian proposal. The status of the two-week-old ceasefire, due to expire earlier this week, remained unclear, with no sign of peace talks restarting.
Ceasefire uncertainty and U.S. blockade
Hours after threatening renewed violence, Trump made what appeared to be a unilateral announcement on Tuesday that the U.S. would extend a ceasefire until it had discussed an Iranian proposal in peace talks to end the two-month-old war.
Iranian officials did not say they had agreed to any extension of the truce and criticized Trump’s decision to maintain the U.S. Navy blockade of Iran’s trade by sea, which Iran 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.
Strait of Hormuz and statements by Qalibaf
Qalibaf said reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint that carried a fifth of the world’s oil trade before the war, was impossible with such a “flagrant breach of the ceasefire,” in a social media post.
“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 recognizing the Iranian people’s rights.”
War continues and regional impact
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. Little progress has been made in ending the war that began with joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
The two sides remained in a holding pattern with the Strait of Hormuz still effectively shut, straining economies globally. 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.
Ship seizures and maritime incidents
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized two vessels and escorted them to Iranian shores, according to statements by the shipping companies and Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The Revolutionary Guards accused the Liberia-flagged Epaminondas and the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca of operating without required permits and tampering with their navigation systems.
A third Liberia-flagged container ship was fired upon in the same area but was not damaged and resumed sailing, according to maritime security sources.
How do you think the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz could affect global trade and energy markets?