Iran threatened to retaliate Monday after the U.S. military seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman, sending oil prices soaring and further imperiling a fragile ceasefire.
The seizure on Sunday came hours after President Donald Trump renewed his threats of broad attacks on Iran’s infrastructure if no deal is reached in talks expected this week in Pakistan.
Oil prices jumped by 5 percent overnight into Monday amid the escalating tensions, while stock markets in Europe were down before rallying.
In a statement Monday, Iran’s military command denounced the U.S. seizure of the ship as an act of “piracy.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a news conference Monday that Tehran had not “made any decisions regarding the next round of negotiations,” according to the semiofficial Tasnim News Agency. The White House said Sunday that Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would depart Washington on Monday to attend fresh talks in Pakistan that could begin on Tuesday.
A two-week ceasefire is due to expire Wednesday.
The seizure Sunday marked the first ship-boarding by U.S. forces since Washington’s naval blockade took effect April 13, as part of Trump’s effort to exert pressure on Tehran. As of Sunday, 25 vessels had been turned back, said U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.
It posted videoovernight that it said showed Marines transiting by helicopter over the Arabian Sea to rappel down onto and seize the Touska, owned by an Iranian company that the United States has accused of procuring material for Tehran’s ballistic missile program.
Trump had earlier accused Iran of violating the ceasefire by closing the strait again on Saturday after a brief reopening brought hope for an end to the war. Two ships reported attacks while attempting to cross.
Centcom said the seizure came after six hours of warnings to the Iranian vessel to turn back. The ship instead continued moving quickly through the northern portion of the Arabian Sea, it said, at which point the USS Spruance repeatedly warned the vessel to evacuate its engine room.
“We are prepared to subject you to disabling fire,” a voice from the Spruance warns the Touska, before a horn is sounded and then at least three rounds are fired at the vessel, according to a video posted online by Centcom.
The Spruance’s attack on the vessel used its 5-inch gun, which disabled the engines but did not sink the vessel, Centcom said, and Marines then boarded the ship and took custody of it.
U.S. forces have been preparing for the possibility of seizures for days, said an official who spoke 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.
The Touska is part of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), a state-owned company under U.S., British and European Union sanctions that has been described by the U.S. State Department as the “preferred shipping line for Iranian proliferators and procurement agents.”
The Touska, which can carry up to around 4,800 20-foot-long containers, had been traveling back from a Chinese chemical-storage port laden with cargo, according to AIS data provided by the global intelligence company Kpler. The Gaolan port is in Zhuhai, a city on China’s southeastern coast. Experts previously told The Washington Post that it is a known loading port for chemicals including sodium perchlorate, a key precursor for solid rocket fuel that Iran needs for its missile program, though it is not immediately clear what materials were on the ship.
AIS data shows the ship appeared to be intercepted around 30 miles south of the coast of Iran.
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.
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.”
In a Sunday call with his Pakistani counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described recent U.S. actions as indications of a lack of seriousness in diplomacy, but both ministers “emphasized the continuation of consultations.”
It was not immediately clear whether a 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.
Trump said the U.S. would continue its blockade until there is a peace deal.
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.”
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.
A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon began Friday and helped facilitate Iran’s brief reopening of the strait. Israeli 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.
Susannah George, Suzy Haidamous, Mohamad El Chamma, Heba Farouk Mahfouz, Emily Davies, Dan Lamothe, and John Hudson contributed to this report.
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