ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Iranian forces seized two container ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, according to Iranian state media, just hours after President Donald Trump initially calmed fears of renewed violence by extending his ceasefire with Iran indefinitely.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said it seized the MSC-Francesca and the Epaminondas and moved them to the Iranian coastline, according to a statement published on state media. “Disruption of order and safety in the Strait of Hormuz is our red line,” the IRGC Navy said. It accused the ships of operating without the necessary permits and tampering with navigation systems.
The ships seized by Iran reported coming under attack earlier Wednesday, one said an IRGC gunboat fired on it and “caused heavy damage to the bridge,” about 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman. The second reported an attack eight nautical miles off Iran’s coast, but did not identify the attackers. Both incidents were reported by the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO), a monitoring agency that is part of the British Royal Navy, without identifying the ships.
The Iranian seizures represent a serious escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, where a battle for control of the vital waterway had emerged as a major stumbling block in negotiations to end the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
Trump announced the ceasefire extension Tuesday night in a social media post just as the deal was due to expire, to allow Iran’s “seriously fractured” leadership time to “come up with a unified proposal” to end the war. The move was announced with no new concession by Tehran — a sign that the president is eager for a way out of what has become an increasingly costly and unpopular war.
A U.S. delegation led by Vice President JD Vance and a high-level team of Iranian officials were set to travel to Islamabad on Tuesday for a second round of face-to-face negotiations, but the Iranians informed mediators at the last minute that they would not attend so long as a U.S. blockade of the strait continues, according to an Iranian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the news media.
Deep distrust of the White House and Trump’s “maximalist” demands are also frustrating diplomatic progress, the official said. In Islamabad, uncertainty had swirled around the prospective talks for days. While Trump publicly threw his support behind a second round, Tehran refused to commit.
By late Tuesday night in Islamabad, Iranian officials had informed Pakistani mediators they would not attend. The Trump administration put Vance’s trip on hold and said the naval blockade would continue, even as the president announced that the ceasefire would be extended.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the news but, behind the scenes, Pakistani mediators were furious with Iran over the last-minute reversal, according to an individual briefed on the diplomatic efforts who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive, closed-door discussions.
Trump has said most U.S. military objectives have been met and has repeatedly highlighted damage done to Iran’s navy. “Their entire Navy is at the bottom of the Sea,” Trump said Tuesday. Last month, he told reporters at the White House: “They have no navy, it’s been knocked out.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has made similar claims. “Not only do they not have a navy, Mr. President, they no longer have a navy commander,” he told Trump at a Cabinet meeting last month after the head of Iran’s navy was killed in an airstrike.
Tehran has suffered heavy military losses over the course of the war, but the country’s regime remains and it has refused to capitulate, rejecting an extended moratorium on its nuclear enrichment program and now refusing to participate in talks.
“Up to this moment, no decision has been made regarding participation in the negotiations,” Esmaeil Baqaei, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Wednesday. Baqaei said the reason is “completely clear” and linked to “contradictory” messages from the Trump administration.
The United States also escalated its naval operations against Iran over the weekend. Touska, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, was taken by U.S. forces as it moved west through the Arabian Sea, seemingly headed for Iran. And on Tuesday in the Indian Ocean, U.S. forces seized a tanker ship suspected of smuggling oil and escorted at least one other vessel off India’s western coast.
Trump imposed the blockade on Iranian ports on April 12, after the first round of in-person talks in Islamabad failed to reach a deal. As of Tuesday, naval operations had forced at least 28 vessels to turn back, according to U.S. military officials. The Trump administration has said the blockade is intended to increase economic pressure on Tehran.
While the first round of negotiations ended without an agreement, the sides appeared to develop a rapport, lifting hopes that the meeting would lay the groundwork for an eventual deal. But a standoff over the status of the Strait of Hormuz quickly overshadowed the diplomacy. Iran on Friday announced the strait would reopen, only to reverse course the following day after Trump refused to lift the U.S. blockade.
Iranian forces also reportedly attacked at least two other vessels in the strait over the weekend. On Saturday, Iranian forces fired on a tanker, according to UKMTO, and a container ship reported damage caused by an unknown projectile.
Economic damage from the war in Iran has been extensive. Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has been at a near halt over seven weeks, triggering the largest global energy crisis in decades, including fuel shortages in many countries and spiking prices everywhere.
For Iran, control of the strait provides powerful leverage that it has only now flexed in response to the U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign that began in late February and killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Tehran decided not to attend this week’s talks because it believes it is still operating from a position of strength, according to a European diplomat based in the Middle East, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive closed-door discussions.
“This is defiance, this is Tehran saying, ‘Don’t test us, we say what we mean and we do what we say,’” the diplomat said. The diplomat said shipping and insurance companies see Iranian attacks in the strait and U.S. seizures there as a “significant” escalation. But the diplomat said Iran and the U.S. remain motivated to reach a deal.
The Iranian negotiators “are playing hard to get,” the diplomat said.
Another factor that could be slowing negotiations is the relatively recent tenure of the new supreme leader, according to the diplomat.
In negotiations with the U.S. before the war, Ali Khamenei acted as an arbiter between competing centers of power within the Iranian leadership. Now, it appears that his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, is instead allowing Iran’s empowered military and security apparatus to have greater sway over the talks.
It is unclear if Khamenei aligns more with Iran’s military or if his role is reduced because of injuries that he sustained in the attack that killed his father, according to the diplomat.
Siham Shamalakh in Cairo and Victoria Craw in London contributed to this report.
The post Iran says it seized 2 ships in Strait of Hormuz, hours after Trump’s ceasefire extension appeared first on Washington Post.
