Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday as it pressed its control over the strategic waterway, following US President Donald Trump's announcement that he was indefinitely calling off renewed military strikes. The move came as the status of a two-week-old ceasefire, which had been due to expire earlier this week, remained unresolved and with no sign of peace negotiations restarting.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the Liberia-flagged Epaminondas and the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca, escorting them to Iranian shores. Iranian authorities accused both vessels 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 sustained no damage and resumed sailing, according to maritime security sources. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the seizures as "piracy," while saying they did not constitute a ceasefire violation as the ships were neither American nor Israeli-flagged.
A ceasefire without agreement
Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States would extend the ceasefire until Iran had presented a unified proposal through ongoing peace talks, citing a request from Pakistani mediators. He set no deadline for the proposal or for the talks themselves, Leavitt confirmed. Iranian officials, however, did not confirm any agreement to an extension and criticised the continued US Navy blockade of Iran's maritime trade, which Tehran considers an act of war in its own right.
Iran's parliament speaker and lead negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said a full ceasefire was only meaningful if the blockade was lifted. "Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such a flagrant breach of the ceasefire," he wrote on social media, adding: "You did not achieve your goals through military aggression and you will not achieve them by bullying either. The only way is recognising the Iranian people's rights."
Blockade and tanker interceptions
The US military said it had directed more than 30 ships to turn around or return to port as part of its naval blockade against Iran. Beyond the Gulf, at least three Iranian-flagged tankers have been intercepted in Asian waters, with vessels redirected from positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, according to sources cited by Reuters. Brent crude remained above $100 a barrel in Asian trade on Thursday, having reached that level a day earlier for the first time in two weeks.
Talks stalled, Pakistan mediating
A first session of peace talks in Islamabad eleven days ago produced no agreement. Both sides failed to appear for tentatively scheduled follow-up talks on Tuesday before the ceasefire's original expiry. Pakistan continues to work to bring the parties together. Trump's stated condition for ending the conflict is Iran relinquishing its highly enriched uranium stockpile and abandoning further enrichment to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is purely civilian in nature, is demanding the lifting of sanctions, reparations for war damage and recognition of its control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has also made a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah a condition of any truce agreement. Israeli air strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday killed at least five people, including Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, making it the deadliest day since a ten-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon was announced on 16 April.
Pentagon shake-up continues
In a further sign of instability at the top of the US military establishment, Navy Secretary John Phelan was dismissed on Wednesday, a US official and a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Pentagon confirmed Phelan was leaving "effective immediately" without providing a reason or clarifying whether his departure was voluntary. The move came weeks after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth removed the Army's top general. Trump has again stepped back from threats to bomb Iranian power plants and other civilian infrastructure, which the United Nations and others have warned would violate international humanitarian law. The war, which began with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February, has killed thousands of people across the Middle East, with the largest death tolls in Iran and Lebanon.
Source: Reuters
