The United States of America is not relenting in its blockade of Iranian ports and coastal waters as President Donald Trump has said that the US has intercepted an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf as part of its naval blocksde.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that the Touska was seized by the US Navy after failing to respond to a warning to stop. Iran said it was a violation of the ceasefire and it would retaliate soon for the “act of armed piracy”.
The announcement came after the White House confirmed US Vice-President JD Vance would lead another delegation for a second round of talks on ending the war with Iran in Pakistan.
Tehran has not yet confirmed its attendance. Iranian state media has reported that officials will not participate while the US blockade remains in place.
“Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them,” Trump wrote.
He added that the US had given the vessel fair warning to stop, which was ignored, “so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom”.
“The TOUSKA is under US Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!”
US Central Command later released video it stated showed a naval vessel intercepting a cargo ship. In the footage, a gun can be seen firing in the direction of the cargo ship.
According to a statement carried on state media outlets, a spokesperson for Iran’s top military headquarters, Khatam al-Anbiya, stated that the US in “violation of the ceasefire opened fire on one of Iran’s commercial vessels in the waters of the Sea of Oman, disabled its navigation system, and boarded it” by “deploying” marines.
“Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond to and retaliate for this act of armed piracy by the US Navy,” reads the statement.
Trump said last Friday that the naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a deal was reached by the two nations.
The conflict started with US and Israeli strikes across Iran on 28 February and continued with waves of attacks across the Middle East for five weeks until a two-week truce was declared.
