In a significant development amid ceasefire from Donald Trump, two ships were attacked Wednesday by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and are now are in the force’s custody and being taken to Iran, Iranian state television reported. It identified the vessels as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminodes. The ship’s owners could not be immediately reached for comment. The seizures represent an escalation after the US earlier seized two Iranian vessels as ceasefire talks were due to take place in Islamabad.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard attacks third ship in Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard also attacked a third ship in the Strait of Hormuz, AP reports quoting semi-official Iranian news agencies.ย The attacks, which Iranian media said were carried out by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, came after President Donald Trump said the US would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran, due to expire on Wednesday.
But Trump said the US would continue to blockade Iranian ports, and the attacks reinforced the dangers to traffic in the strait, through which 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas pass in peacetime.
That means that even if the ceasefire largely holds – and Iran and the US do not resume major attacks – the war will continue to weigh heavily on the global economy.
Conflict has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the regionย
Already the conflict has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. The longer the strait remains closed, the more severe and widespread the effects will be – and the longer it will take the economy to bounce back.
Iran has offered no formal acknowledgment of Trump’s extension, but an Iranian diplomat said talks would not resume until the blockade is lifted. Iran opened fire on a container ship in the strait on Wednesday morning, and a second was attacked a short time later, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre.
All threeย ships are in Revolutionary Guard’s custodyย
Iranian state television reported later reported that the ships were in the Revolutionary Guard’s custody and being taken to Iran. It identified the vessels as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminodes. The ship’s owners could not be immediately reached for comment.
It should be noted that a 10-day ceasefire went into effect in Lebanon on Friday, but there have been several Israeli strikes and Hezbollah claimed its first attack on Tuesday. Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, according to authorities. More than 2,290 people has been killed in Lebanon, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen have died in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 US service members throughout the region have been killed.
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Iran fires at container ship in Strait of Hormuz hours after Trump extends ceasefire
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