Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, escalating pressure on a vital global shipping route even as U.S. President Donald Trump indefinitely extended a ceasefire with Tehran.
Iranian media said the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard carried out the attacks. State television reported two of the vessels were seized and were being taken to Iran.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said a container ship came under attack in the strait Wednesday morning and another vessel was hit a short time later.
Later, Iran’s semiofficial Nour News, Fars and Mehr agencies reported a third ship was attacked by the Guard. The outlets said the vessel had become “stranded” on the Iranian coast, but did not provide further details.
The attacks added to instability in the waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, a route that carries 20 per cent of the world’s oil and natural gas in peacetime.
Trump said the ceasefire, which had been due to expire Wednesday, would remain in place indefinitely. At the same time, he indicated the United States would continue its blockade of Iranian ports, leaving a major source of regional tension unresolved.
The maritime attacks complicate efforts to bring Washington and Tehran back to the table for talks on ending the war. They also reinforce Iran’s leverage in the conflict, as its ability to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains one of its strongest strategic tools.
Since the war began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, there have been more than 30 attacks on ships in the Middle East.
Although the ceasefire has halted U.S. and Israeli strikes inside Iran, and Iranian missile attacks on Israel and the wider Middle East have stopped, the danger at sea remains.
Without a diplomatic agreement, the continued threat to commercial vessels is expected to discourage shipping traffic and put further pressure on global energy supplies. On Wednesday, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, climbed to nearly US$100 a barrel, more than 35 per cent above where it stood when the conflict began.
As the attacks unfolded, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard vowed to “deliver crushing blows beyond the enemy’s imagination to its remaining assets in the region.”
The warning came a day after hard-line supporters of Iran’s theocracy staged rallies in which the Guard displayed missiles and launchers, underscoring Tehran’s defiance after U.S. and Israeli strikes targeted much of the country’s ballistic missile arsenal.
There was no sign Wednesday of an immediate return to diplomacy. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei acknowledged Trump’s ceasefire extension in comments reported by Iranian state television, but did not say Tehran was ready for a new round of talks.
Earlier, Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the Iranian mission in Egypt, told The Associated Press no delegation would go to Pakistan until the U.S. lifts its blockade. Two Pakistani officials told the AP Islamabad is still waiting to hear from Tehran on when a delegation will be sent.
