Iran flaunted its tightened grip over the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday with video of its commandos storming a huge cargo ship, after the collapse of peace talks that Washington had hoped would open the world’s most important shipping corridor.
State television broadcast footage overnight of masked troops pulling up in a grey speedboat alongside the MSC Francesca, climbing a rope ladder to a shell door in the hull and jumping through brandishing rifles.
The footage, presented with an action-movie-style soundtrack and no commentary, also included views of another ship, the Epaminondas. Iran said it had captured both on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to cross the strait without permits.
US boards another tanker
Washington, which has been confronting Iranian ships in international waters to enforce a blockade of its own, said it had boarded another tanker, the Majestic, in the Indian Ocean on Thursday. That appeared to be a reference to a supertanker, also called the Phonix, last reported off the coast of Sri Lanka carrying 2 million barrels of crude.
Iran, which has effectively blocked the strait to ships apart from its own since the United States and Israel launched the war in February, has been left in apparent control of the waterway since last-ditch peace talks were called off on Tuesday, hours before a two-week ceasefire expired.
Amid diplomatic efforts to restart the failed talks, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Thursday Iran could consider attending a meeting in Pakistan, but only if the US blockade is lifted and seized Iranian ships are released.
In an early morning post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump said he had ordered the Navy to “shoot and kill” Iranian boats laying mines in the strait, and step up demining activity. His post did not mention steps to deal with the other means Iran has used to block shipping along the route: mainly speedboats, missiles and drones.
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said the merchant vessels attacked in the strait had “faced the law”. Iranian speedboats and marine drones were sheltering in sea caves off an island near the strait and keeping the US Navy from approaching, he said.
The vice speaker of Iran’s parliament, Hamidreza Hajibabaei, said the first revenue from a toll Iran was now collecting from ships using the strait had been transferred to the central bank. He gave no further details about who had paid it or how much.
“Neither peace nor war”
Tehran says it will not consider opening the strait, normally the route for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, until the US lifts its blockade of Iran’s shipping, which Washington imposed during the ceasefire and Tehran calls a violation of that truce.
Trump cancelled threats to restart attacks on Iran in the ceasefire’s final hours on Tuesday, but refuses to lift the blockade. There has been no formal extension of the ceasefire, and no plans have been announced for further talks.
Iranians, who endured six weeks of US and Israeli bombardment before the ceasefire on April 8, described a nerve-wracking environment under threat of renewed attack.
“In a situation that is neither peace nor war, things are somewhat frightening. At every moment, you think that Israel or the US might launch an attack,” Arash, 35, a government employee in Tehran, told Reuters by phone. “You cannot make decisions about the future.”
Pakistan, which hosted talks this month and had been preparing for a second round before it was called off on Tuesday, was still in touch with both sides, a Pakistani government source said.
Iranian officials were still declining to commit to sending a delegation, citing the US blockade and other reasons, the source added.
The US was separately due to host a second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, with Lebanon seeking an extension of a ceasefire reached last week in a war that has run in parallel to the Iran war.
Israeli strikes killed five people including a journalist in Lebanon on Wednesday, the deadliest day there since the US-brokered truce took effect. Iran says maintaining the Lebanon ceasefire is a pre-condition for talks on the wider war.
US navy Secretary fired
In the latest wartime shakeup at the Pentagon, John Phelan, a financier appointed by Trump as navy secretary, was ousted late on Wednesday. Two sources told Reuters he had been fired over disagreements around shipbuilding and bad relations with officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The stalemate in the strait has whipsawed markets with mixed signals. The lack of a clear path to resolving the worst energy disruption in history has sent oil prices climbing again, but with fighting on hold Wall Street share prices have zoomed to record highs.
On Thursday, shares were down in Japan, Hong Kong, Britain and Germany, but up in South Korea and France. Futures markets forecast an easing on Wall Street from Wednesday’s record close. Brent crude was up 0.5% at $102.40 a barrel.
So far, Washington has not achieved the aims Trump set out at the war’s start: to deprive Iran of the capability to attack its neighbours, end its nuclear programme and make it easier for its people to overthrow their government.
Iran has retained missiles and drones that can hit its neighbours, and a stockpile of highly enriched uranium estimated by the UN atomic watchdog at more than 400 kg (900 pounds). Its rulers, who killed thousands to put down a popular uprising in January, have faced no organised opposition since the war began.
They have gained leverage by seizing control of the strait despite threats from Trump, who warned Iran on social media this month to open the strait “or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!”
Also read: Israel alleges Iran-linked drone smuggling network via Cyprus
Source: Parisa Hafezi and Mubasher Bukhari – Reuters
