Chilling footage shows Iran Revolutionary Guard seizing Hormuz ships | World | News
Panama condemned what it described as the “illegal seizure” of the Panamanian-flagged MSC Francesca and declared it a serious attack on maritime security. Footage broadcast by Iranian state broadcasters showed armed soldiers approaching one of the ships in a small boat and then climbing the ladder.
According to Iranian media, the Guard also attacked a third ship, identified as Euphoria, which was reportedly “stranded” off the Iranian coastline, but no further details were provided. The attacks came just a day after Trump extended the ceasefire for two weeks while maintaining the American blockade of Iranian ports.
Ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran have effectively stifled nearly all exports passing through the strait, through which 20 percent of world oil trade passes in peacetime, and there is no solution in sight.
Video footage broadcast on Iranian state television allegedly captured the chilling moment when masked Islamic Revolutionary Guard troops boarded and seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz just hours later. Donald Trump extended the fragile ceasefire.
Iran opened fire on three ships on Wednesday, seizing two of them in the vital waterway. The seized ships were the Liberian-flagged Epaminondas and the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca, both container ships.
Technomar, the management firm of the Liberian-registered Epaminondas, confirmed it was “approached and fired upon by a manned warship” off the Oman coastline, adding that the ship’s bridge was damaged. A few hours later a second cargo ship came under fire, no damage was reported and the ship was stopped in the water.
Iranian media reported that the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard transferred both ships to Iran, signaling further escalation of tensions, but the White House insisted the seizures did not violate ceasefire terms.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Channel that Iran’s seizure of the ships did not violate the terms of the ceasefire because “these were not US or Israeli ships, but two international ships.”
The attacks followed a sudden change in Iran’s position over the weekend after Iran’s foreign minister announced on Friday that the strait was open, but the Revolutionary Guard disputed it the next day.
More than 30 attacks on ships have been recorded in the Middle East since the United States and Israel launched the conflict with a surprise attack on Iran on February 28. Before this point, the strait remained open to all maritime traffic.
