*Fires on another as U.S. intercepts 3 Iranian oil tankers in Asian waters
Iran said on Wednesday it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the US naval blockade remained in place, calling it a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire between the longtime foes.
This is just as U.S. military has intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged tankers in Asian waters and is redirecting them away from their positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards meanwhile said their naval forces had seized two container ships trying to cross the strategic strait.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the Islamic republic was appreciative of Pakistan’s efforts to end the Middle East war but did not comment on a ceasefire extension announced by the United States.
US President Donald Trump had said on Tuesday he was extending the truce following a request by Pakistani mediators and to allow more time for peace talks.
“A complete ceasefire only has meaning if it is not violated through a naval blockade,” Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Wednesday.
“Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not possible amid a blatant violation of the ceasefire.”
Despite the latest series of attacks on maritime traffic in the Gulf, a second round of US-Iran talks could take place within the next three days, the New York Post reported, citing Trump and unnamed Pakistani sources.
“It’s possible!” Trump reportedly wrote to the Post in a text message when asked about the sources in Pakistan, who had told the newspaper that a second round could happen within two to three days.
Trump also claimed that Iran had halted alleged plans to execute eight women arrested over anti-government protests, after he urged Tehran to release them.
But Iran’s judiciary described his remarks as “false news,” saying the women had never faced the death penalty.
Ships seized
UK-based maritime security monitors confirmed that three commercial vessels had reported incidents involving gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz, the international gateway for the Gulf oil and gas industry which US and Iranian forces are battling to control.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval force this morning identified and stopped in the Strait of Hormuz two violating ships,” the Guards said.
“The two offending ships… were seized by the IRGC’s naval forces and directed to the Iranian coast.”
They identified one ship as the Panama-flagged container ship MSC Francesca and the Liberia-flagged Epaminondas. The tracking site Marine Traffic showed the last known positions of both vessels closer to the Iranian coast of the strait, northeast of Oman.
Earlier, the British maritime security monitor UKMTO said one container ship reported it was fired upon by a boat belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman, causing damage to the bridge but no casualties.
‘Stateless, sanctioned’
Separately, a third ship was fired upon and stopped in the water eight nautical miles west of the Iranian coast, UKMTO said, without identifying the attackers.
British Security firm Vanguard Tech identified it as the Panama-flagged container ship Euphoria, which it said was “transiting outbound of the Strait of Hormuz.”
The US has diverted at least three more Iranian-flagged oil tankers in recent days, according to two US and Indian shipping sources and two separate Western maritime security source who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday.
The US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the interceptions.
One of the vessels was the Iranian-flagged Deep Sea supertanker, which was part loaded with crude and last seen on its public tracking transponder off Malaysia’s coast a week ago, according to the sources and ship tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform.
The smaller Iranian-flagged Sevin, which had a maximum capacity of 1 million barrels and was carrying 65 percent of its load, was also intercepted. The vessel was last seen off Malaysia’s coast a month ago ship tracking data showed.
The Iranian-flagged supertanker Dorena was also intercepted, fully loaded with 2 million barrels of crude, and last seen off the coast of southern India three days ago, according to the sources and ship tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform.
The US Central Command said on Wednesday in a post on X that the Dorena has been under the escort of a US Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean after attempting to violate the blockade.
US forces may have intercepted the Iranian-flagged Derya tanker, shipping sources said. The vessel failed to discharge its cargo of Iranian oil in India before a US waiver on Iranian crude purchases expired on Sunday. That vessel was last seen off India’s western coast on Friday, according to MarineTraffic data.
US Central Command said on Wednesday that since the start of its blockade against ships entering or exiting Iranian ports, US forces had directed 29 vessels to turn around or return to port.
The US military has not listed all the ships it has intercepted and did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the Deyra and the Deep Sea.
A third maritime security source said the US military was looking to target Iranian ships away from the Strait of Hormuz and in open waters to avoid any risk of floating mines during operations. (Written with reports from Arab News, Alarabiya News)
