{"id":81112,"date":"2026-04-24T05:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/81112\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T05:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:19:16","slug":"iran-seizes-vessel-in-strait-of-hormuz-defying-us-naval-superiority-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/81112\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran seizes vessel in Strait of Hormuz, defying US naval superiority"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI\/CAIRO\/WASHINGTON: Iran flaunted its tightened grip over the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> on Thursday with a video of commandos in a speedboat storming a huge cargo ship, after the collapse of peace talks that Washington had hoped would open one of the world’s most important shipping corridors.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed the threat posed by Iran’s “little wise-guy ships” and told reporters that \u200bhe believed Tehran wanted to make a deal but that its leadership was in turmoil. Trump added that he was in no hurry for a deal, but if Iran did not want one, “I’ll finish it up militarily.”
Track live updates of the US-Israel war with Iran here<\/a><\/p>\n

Iranian state television broadcast video overnight of masked troops pulling up in a grey speedboat alongside the MSC Francesca, climbing a rope ladder to a door in the hull and jumping through, brandishing rifles.<\/p>\n

The video, presented with an action-movie-style soundtrack and no \u200ccommentary, included views of another \u2060ship, the \u2060Epaminondas. Iran said it had captured both on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to cross the strait without permits.<\/p>\n

\"ETLive Events
The Iranian boat seizure was a reminder that the United States, despite its more powerful military, struggles to keep control of the Strait of \u200bHormuz. Trump and his military officials have said Iran’s navy is “at the bottom of the sea,” but Tehran has shown it can still cause major problems for oil markets. Before the war, one-fifth of global oil \u200band liquefied natural gas was shipped through the strait.
Major surveys showed on Thursday that the global economy is facing ever more tangible strains from the energy shock of the war, as factories grapple with soaring production costs and activity weakens even in services sectors.The war, launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28, has been paused since a ceasefire on April 8. The U.S. and Iran \u200bmet in Pakistan on April 11 and 12 in an attempt to end hostilities, but talks ended without agreement and a \u2060second round has \u200cyet to take place.<\/p>\n

Tehran says it will not consider opening the strait until the U.S. lifts its blockade of Iran’s shipping, which Washington imposed during the ceasefire and Tehran calls a violation of that truce. Iran has also called Israeli strikes on Lebanon, where Israel has been engaged with the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah<\/a>, an obstacle to \u2060renewed peace talks.<\/p>\n

Israel and Lebanon on Thursday agreed to extend their ceasefire by three weeks after a high-level meeting \u200bbetween representatives of both countries in the White House Oval Office, Trump announced on social media.<\/p>\n

Also read: Trump says Lebanon-Israel ceasefire extended by three weeks after Oval Office meeting<\/a><\/p>\n

“I look forward in the near future \u200bto hosting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun. It was a Great Honor to be a participant at this very Historic Meeting!” Trump said. It was unclear, however, how much influence the Lebanese government might exert over Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

Before that announcement, Israel warned on Thursday that it was ready to restart attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel was waiting for a “green light” from the U.S. to resume the war, saying that if it did, it would begin by targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and “return Iran to a dark age.”<\/p>\n

STRUGGLE FOR THE STRAITTrump said this week he would indefinitely extend what had been a two-week ceasefire with Iran to allow for further peace talks, but on Thursday he said he had ordered the Navy to “shoot \u200cand kill” Iranian boats laying mines in the strait, and step up demining activity.<\/p>\n

In a social media post, he said Washington was in “total control” of the strait, which he described as “‘Sealed up Tight,’ until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!”<\/p>\n

Later at the White House, Trump said Iran might have loaded \u200bup its weaponry “a little bit” \u200bduring the ceasefire, but the U.S. military could knock \u2060that out in about one day.<\/p>\n

“Don’t rush me,” he said when asked how long he was willing to wait for a long-term peace deal. “I want to make the best deal. I could make a deal right now … but I don’t want to do that. I want to have it everlasting.”<\/p>\n

Trump, who has used provocative language threatening to obliterate Iran and end its civilization, ruled \u200bout the use of nuclear weapons, telling reporters they were unnecessary because the U.S. had “decimated” Iran with conventional arms.<\/p>\n

“No, I wouldn’t use it. A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody,” Trump said.<\/p>\n

Iranian officials cited in state media dismissed claims by Trump of divisions in Iran’s leadership, and Khamenei said in a post on X that “enemy” media operations were aiming to undermine unity and national security.<\/p>\n

Washington, which has been confronting Iranian ships in international waters to enforce its blockade, said it had boarded another tanker, the Majestic, in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, an apparent reference to a supertanker last reported off the coast of Sri Lanka carrying 2 million barrels of crude.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military said on Thursday that U.S. forces had redirected 33 vessels since the blockade began.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI\/CAIRO\/WASHINGTON: Iran flaunted its tightened grip over the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday with a video of commandos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3229,100,102,29237,1109,29236,2023,101,6754,309,224],"class_list":{"0":"post-81112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-strait-of-hormuz","8":"tag-global-oil-market-impact","9":"tag-hezbollah","10":"tag-hormuz","11":"tag-iran-attack-us","12":"tag-iran-us-conflict","13":"tag-iran-vessel-seizure","14":"tag-israeli-defense-forces","15":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","16":"tag-strait-of-hormuz-news","17":"tag-trump-administration","18":"tag-us-iran-war"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116458000427913946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}