Iran Tightens Control Of Hormuz After US Calls Off Renewed Attacks

Washington/Dubai/Islamabad : Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz as it tightened its control over the strategic waterway after US President Donald Trump announced an indefinite halt to attacks with no sign of resuming peace talks.

The status of the two-week ceasefire, which is expected to end at the beginning of this week, remains unclear. In a sharp turnaround just hours after threatening renewed violence, Trump made what appeared to be a one-sided announcement Tuesday that the United States would extend the ceasefire until the United States discusses Iran’s proposal in peace talks to end the two-month war.

But Iranian officials did not say they agreed to any extension of the ceasefire and criticized Trump’s decision to maintain the US Navy’s blockade of Iran’s maritime trade; this was considered an act of war by Iran. Iranian Parliament Speaker and Chief Negotiator Mohammed Baqir Qalibaf said that a full ceasefire would only be meaningful if the blockade was lifted.

Kalibaf said in a statement on social media that reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil trade before the war, was impossible “with such a blatant violation of the ceasefire”.

“You did not achieve your goals through military aggression, and you will not achieve them through tyranny,” he wrote in his first response to Trump’s statement. “The only way is to recognize the rights of the Iranian people.”

Trump has once again backed down at the last minute from his repeated threats to bomb Iran’s power plants and other civilian infrastructure, which the United Nations and others have warned would violate international humanitarian law. But little progress has been made in ending the war that began with joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.

This leaves the two sides in a holding pattern and strains economies around the world, with the vital Strait of Hormuz still effectively closed. Thousands of people have been killed in the Middle East, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, where Iran’s ally Hezbollah militant group has joined the war against Israel.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the two ships and escorted them to the Iranian coast, according to shipping companies and Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

The Revolutionary Guard accused the seized Liberian-flagged Epaminondas and Panama-flagged MSC Francesca ships of operating without the necessary permits and interfering with their navigation systems.

According to maritime security sources, a third Liberian-flagged container ship was also fired upon in the same area, but was not damaged and set sail again.

Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News that “since the ships are not US or Israeli ships, the seizure is not a violation of the ceasefire.” He described it as an act of “piracy”.

The US military said on Wednesday it had so far ordered more than 30 ships to turn back or return to port as part of the US blockade of Iran. The US military intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged tankers in Asian waters, far beyond the Gulf, and diverted them from their positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, the sources said.

International crude benchmark Brent remained above $100 a barrel in Asian trade on Thursday, reaching triple digits a day earlier for the first time in two weeks.

There is no new date for the ceasefire

In his announcement Tuesday, Trump said the United States had accepted a request from Pakistani negotiators “to continue our Attack on the Country of Iran until its leaders and representatives put forward a unified proposal and discussions are concluded one way or another.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters she had not set any deadlines for proposals or discussions.

Pakistan, which is mediating, was still trying to bring the sides together after neither attended talks tentatively planned in Islamabad on Tuesday before the end of a two-week ceasefire.

No agreement was reached in the first session of peace talks between Iran and the USA held in Islamabad 11 days ago.

Trump wants Iran to give up highly enriched uranium and forego further enrichment to prevent it from producing nuclear weapons. Iran says it has only a peaceful civilian nuclear program and wants sanctions lifted, damage compensation and recognition of its control over the strait.

Iran has also made a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon a condition of ceasefire talks. At least five people, including Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, were killed in Israeli air strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday.

It was the deadliest day since a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon was declared on April 16.

Iran executed a man convicted of having links to both an exiled opposition group and the Israeli intelligence service, Iranian media reported on Thursday.