President Donald Trump said Sunday that the U.S. military seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that tried to bypass the American blockade of the vital Strait of Hormuz, hours after he renewed his threats of broad attacks on Iran’s infrastructure if no deal is reached in upcoming talks in Pakistan.
“The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom. Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel.”
The operation marks the first ship boarding by U.S. forces since the naval blockade took effect April 13, as part of Trump’s effort to exert pressure on Tehran. At least 23 vessels have been turned back by U.S. forces as of Saturday, military officials said then on social media.
Trump accused Iran in an earlier post of violating a fragile two-week ceasefire, as it closed the strait again on Saturday and two ships reported attacks while attempting to cross, after a brief reopening brought hope for an end to the war.
U.S. forces have been preparing for the possibility of seizures for days, said a U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operations. The Marines are with the 31st Expeditionary Unit of Okinawa, Japan, which arrived in the region aboard a three-ship naval task force in March. A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump said earlier Sunday that U.S. representatives are returning to Pakistan for negotiations to end the war with Iran, though it remains unclear whether Tehran had agreed to send representatives. “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The White House said Sunday that Vice President JD Vance, special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will attend the talks. Kushner does not have a formal job in the administration. The meetings in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, will be “Tuesday possibly into Wednesday,” Trump told Fox News in a call Sunday morning, the outlet reported.
The ceasefire is set to expire Wednesday.
Yet Iranian state media reported Sunday that Tehran had “rejected” the second round of talks. Iran’s “absence” from the talks, the report said, was a result of “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire.”
It was not immediately clear whether the decision not to attend was final. Similar statements were made by Iranian officials in the lead-up to the first round of negotiations, which also were held in Pakistan.
Speaking to ABC News on Sunday, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations did not say whether the ceasefire will be extended if nothing comes of the talks.
“Well, that’s ultimately a decision for the president, but I think the outcome of these talks will be incredibly consequential,” Mike Waltz said. “And as the president has stated, he is prepared to escalate, to de-escalate. He is prepared to actually board and turn around Iranian ships even as far east as the Pacific Ocean.”
Trump celebrated the reopening of the strait on Friday and predicted that progress toward a deal would go “quickly.” Stocks soared and oil prices dropped amid a surge of optimism. Iran’s effective closure of the strait has left about 20,000 seafarers stranded on idle ships and spiked oil prices.
The day after Trump said that “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again,” Tehran said Saturday that it was closed again, citing a continued U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports that Trump is using to pressure Tehran.
Trump said the U.S. would continue its blockade until there is a peace deal. In comments Friday to reporters in Phoenix, where he was speaking at a Turning Point USA event, the president said, “Soon as the agreement gets signed, that’s when the blockade ends.”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that it is not safe to go through the Strait of Hormuz right now but that “people are ready to go” once a deal is reached.
“Ships are there. The United States put two warships through the straits. We can open it one way or the other,” Wright said. “But the best way to do it is to have an end to the conflict and a defanged and de-armed Iran.”
When asked whether that would happen sometime this week or next week, Wright said, “That’s probably a reasonable time frame. It’s not too far away.”
Iranian officials suggested this weekend that negotiations were not over, and in the Pakistani capital, there were signs that the city was tightening security around some of the buildings expected to host the second round of talks. Roads leading in and out of Islamabad’s diplomatic enclave were shut.
The Serena hotel, where the first meeting was held, is clearing rooms for the talks, asking guests to leave by Sunday afternoon. The U.S. advance team has already made it to Islamabad, said a diplomat familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive event planning.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is leading the Iranian team, gave a televised address on state media Saturday night, in which he proclaimed victory while leaving open the possibility of a “durable peace.” He said Iran still seeks a “lasting settlement” but remains “deeply distrustful of the United States,” according to the Tasnim News Agency’s summary of the address. He reaffirmed that negotiations are ongoing but said Iran maintains full readiness “for necessary actions.”
“The Strait of Hormuz is under the control of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, adding that “if the U.S. does not abandon the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be restricted.” Any maritime movement in the strait takes place under Iran’s military oversight, the outlet reported Ghalibaf as saying.
After a trickle of ships got through an Iranian-designated route along the waterway’s coastline during the reopening, two vessels reported being hit. A tanker came under fire by two gunboats affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, a monitoring agency that is part of the Royal Navy. All crew members were reported safe. The UKMTO reported that a container ship was hit by an unknown projectile.
A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon began Friday and helped facilitate Iran’s reopening of the strait. Israel and Lebanese media reported apparent violations — and the Israeli military published a map Sunday delineating a buffer zone in southern Lebanon that it called a “forward defense line.” It said five military brigades, along with naval forces, are operating in those areas to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure.
Thousands of Lebanese civilians began returning to their homes in the country’s south after the truce was announced.
Israel’s military also said Sunday that Israeli intelligence found that “Hezbollah fired toward UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon during the ceasefire” on Saturday, killing one peacekeeper with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon — an attack that French President Emmanuel Macron denounced. Hezbollah denied any involvement.
Susannah George, Suzy Haidamous, Mohamad El Chamma, Heba Farouk Mahfouz, Emily Davies, Dan Lamothe, Tara Copp and John Hudson contributed to this report.
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