US troops blow huge hole in Iranian cargo ship in Strait of Hormuz cla | World | News
The US has seized an Iranian-flagged ship near the Strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump has said. In his most recent update, the president wrote on Truth Social on Sunday night: “Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them.”
Trump said US Marines intercepted and took “full custody” of the cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman in what marked the first such interception since the US blockade of Iranian ports of maritime traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports began on Monday.
He added: “The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom.” There was no immediate comment from Iran.
Iran views the US naval blockade as a violation of the two-week ceasefire. Earlier today, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that Tehran has rejected a second round of peace talks with the US.
Trump said the talks would take place in Islamabad on Monday night and threatened to “knock out” every power plant and bridge in Iran if Tehran does not agree to a deal with the US.
Tehran’s absence is due to “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade”, IRNA said.
The news threw into question Trump’s announcement that US negotiators would head to the Pakistani capital for the talks, which had raised hopes of extending a fragile ceasefire set to expire by Wednesday.
While Iran’s chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, said in an interview aired on state television late Saturday that “there will be no retreat in the field of diplomacy”, he acknowledged that a wide gap remained between the sides.
Host Pakistan also did not confirm a second round, but authorities began tightening security in Islamabad.
The White House said Vice President JD Vance, who led the first round of face-to-face talks over 21 hours last weekend, would lead the US delegation to Pakistan with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Iran said it had received new proposals from the US on Saturday. It was unclear whether either side had shifted stances on issues that derailed the last round of negotiations, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme, its regional proxies and control over the Strait of Hormuz.
