Iran Fires on 2 Ships Crossing Strait of Hormuz
Iranian state media reports that Iranian forces have taken custody of two commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz after opening fire on the ships Wednesday. Their defiant action happened just hours after President Trump announced that the cease-fire would continue indefinitely.
There’s been no comment this morning on the latest Iranian escalation.
Earlier Wednesday, U.K. Maritime Trade Operations, a shipping monitor run by the British Navy, reported that two ships had been attacked near the strait, one by a gunboat belonging to the Revolutionary Guards, the New York Times reported.
Iranian news media reported that the Guards had targeted two cargo vessels, the MSC Francesca and Epaminondas, and the force’s Navy later claimed to have seized the ships after they attempted to navigate “without the necessary permits.”
International ship tracking from Marine Traffic shows both vessels stationary off the coast of Iran in the strait.
News of Iran’s assault on the vessels first came from the United Kingdom Maritime Operations, which reported an IRGC gunboat had caused significant damage to the bridge of one of the container ships.
Also from the Times:
The two container ships attacked earlier on Wednesday morning in the Strait of Hormuz were targeted as part of an enforcement operation by Iranian authorities, according to the semiofficial Iranian news outlet Tasnim. Referring to the second vessel, the outlet reported: “It appears that this container ship did not heed warnings from the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and was therefore targeted.”
Trump said Tuesday that Iran wants to open up the Strait of Hormuz to make money.
“Iran doesn’t want the Strait of Hormuz closed, they want it open so they can make $500 Million Dollars a day (which is, therefore, what they are losing if it is closed!). They only say they want it closed because I have it totally BLOCKADED (CLOSED!), so they merely want to ‘save face,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He added, “People approached me four days ago, saying, ‘Sir, Iran wants to open up the Strait, immediately.’ But if we do that, there can never be a Deal with Iran, unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”