Iran has seized ships in the Strait of Hormuz

Nivette Dawod

Updated 16.48 | Published 15.32

          

          Several ships have reportedly been fired upon and seized by Iran. Photo: Asghar Besharati /AP/TT /            AP

Iran has attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz during the day.

Two of them have since been seized.

The whole thing is described as an escalation.

Just a few hours after US President Donald Trump announced that the ceasefire with Iran would be extended, the first reports came.

The ship Epaminondas, owned by a Greek company, had then been fired upon by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman.

According to the Iranian news agency Tasnim, the ship ignored “warnings” from Iranian forces.

A few hours later, the Panama-flagged cargo ship Euphoria and the ship Francesca from the Swiss shipping company MSC were fired on, eight and six nautical miles from the coast of Iran, respectively. It is not clear from the report which territorial waters the ships were in.

None of the crew on the ships were reportedly injured.

 

Trump has extended the ceasefire but continues with the blockade. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP

An escalation

Later, the IRGC stated that two of the ships, Francesca and Epaminondas, had been seized and taken to Iranian territorial waters for “inspection.”

“Disturbing order and security in the Strait of Hormuz is a red line for us,” stated the regime, which said that the ships had operated without proper authorization and manipulated their navigation systems.

The Iranian actions indicate an escalation, several media outlets describe.

This is the first time since the war began on February 28 that Iran has seized ships, writes Reuters.

 

Photo: AP

"Military response"

After Trump's statement that the ceasefire and the US blockade of Iranian ports would be extended, Iran stated that it now intended to "take the initiative" against this "act of war".

"Continuing the blockade is no different from bombing and must be met with a military response," wrote Mehdi Mohammadi, an adviser to the Iranian president, on X.

The BBC's Middle East analyst believes that the action increases pressure on the US, since the Strait of Hormuz is a key issue in achieving a peace agreement.

Security correspondent Frank Gardner on the same channel writes that the conflict between Iran and the US is now in a "dangerous limbo" that affects the entire global economy.

Trump's threat to bomb Iranian power plants unless Iran negotiates risks leading to a full-scale war, according to the correspondent: "This is the worst crisis in the Gulf region since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990," he writes.