Iranian forces have seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz as the US and Iran maintain separate blockades of the critical waterway, through which about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied fossil gas passed during peacetime. The standoff has raised doubts about whether stalled peace negotiations will resume.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament and lead negotiator, said late on Wednesday that reopening the strait would be “impossible” while the US and Israel committed “flagrant” breaches of the ceasefire, including the US naval blockade, “the hostage-taking of the world’s economy” and “Zionist warmongering”. He added in a post on X that the US and Israel “did not achieve their goals through military aggression, nor will they through bullying”.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said their naval forces had stopped two ships attempting to cross the strait and brought them to shore. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that the IRGC accused the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and Liberia-flagged Epaminondas of “attempting to exit the strait of Hormuz covertly”. The Epaminondas is Greek-operated, and Greece’s foreign minister confirmed an attack against a Greek-owned cargo ship. A UK-based maritime security monitor reported attacks on ships in the waterway on Wednesday, including an incident in which a vessel was approached by an Iranian gunboat “that then fired upon the vessel which has caused heavy damage to the bridge”.
The seizures mark the first time Iran has taken control of ships since the beginning of the war on 28 February, and come after the US fired on and seized an Iranian cargo vessel and boarded an Iranian oil tanker in the Indian Ocean. In the latest in a series of about-turns, Donald Trump threatened violence on Tuesday hours before announcing he was unilaterally extending a ceasefire. On Wednesday the White House press secretary said Trump was “satisfied” with the naval blockade, and “understands Iran is in a very weak position”.
The US president has been unable to contain the global economic and diplomatic crisis that erupted from the war, which has not resulted in the anti-US regime being overthrown or ended Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Instead, it led to Tehran’s forced closure of the strait, causing a spiralling global economic crisis. Countries in Asia dependent on Gulf oil have been badly hit, with shortages of fuel, fertiliser and other raw materials. Germany halved its 2026 growth forecast to 0.5% on Wednesday, while Greece announced €500m in extra aid for households and farmers.
The head of the UN maritime agency has appealed for help for thousands of seafarers stranded in the Gulf by the strait closure. About 20,000 seafarers and 2,000 ships have been stranded, according to the International Maritime Organization. Over the weekend, Iran said it had received new proposals from Washington but also suggested a wide gap remained. Pakistan has acted as mediator, but a luxury hotel cleared out for more talks remained empty on Wednesday. A Pakistani official briefed on preparations told Reuters: “We had prepared everything. We were all prepared for the talks, the stage was set. If you ask me honestly, it was a setback we were not expecting.”
