Only 16 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz this Monday (20), as captains and ship owners remain cautious in the face of the ceasefire between the US and Iran.
Nine ships entered the strait on Monday, including two Iranian-flagged vessels, one of which was an oil tanker, according to data from MarineTraffic.com. Meanwhile, seven vessels left, including an Iranian-flagged cargo ship.
A CNN could not independently verify the data displayed on sites such as MarineTraffic.com, and navigation data does not always provide a complete picture of the number of ships sailing through the strait, some ships may turn off their transponders and others may be subject to spoofing, altering their signals to mask their location.
This Monday morning, CENTCOM (US Central Command) stated that US forces “ordered 27 vessels to turn around or return to an Iranian port” since the US blockade of Iranian ports began last week.
Deadline for ceasefire
United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that he considers the ceasefire with Iran to end on “Wednesday night (22), Washington time”, but that it is “highly unlikely” that he will extend it if an agreement is not reached.
“It’s highly unlikely that I would extend it,” Trump told Bloomberg in a telephone interview. The ceasefire was originally scheduled to last two weeks and began on the night of April 7.
“I’m not going to rush into closing a bad deal. We have all the time in the world”, the president continued in the conversation.
When asked if he expected fighting to resume immediately if an agreement was not reached, the American leader responded: “If there is no agreement, I would certainly hope so.”
Trump had previously expressed hesitation about extending the ceasefire.
Tensions in the region
Iran threatened to retaliate against the US after American forces attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman, this Sunday (19).
The action was initially publicized by American President Donald Trump, who stated that the vessel tried to break the American naval blockade.
“Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship called TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to bypass our naval blockade, and it didn’t work out for them,” Trump said in a post on the social media site Truth Social.
“The U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman and warned them to stop. The Iranian crew refused to comply, so our Navy ship immediately detained them by cutting a hole in the engine room. At this time, the U.S. Marines are in custody of the ship,” the American president added.
CENTCOM (US Central Command) confirmed the operation in a statement, stating that the vessel ignored warnings for around six hours before the intervention.
According to the statement, the destroyer “deactivated the Touska’s propulsion” after shots were fired at the engine room. According to the command, since the beginning of the blockade, 25 commercial ships have been forced to retreat or return to Iranian ports.
Iran’s top military command, Khatam al-Anbiya, accused the US of violating the current ceasefire and classified the action as “armed piracy”.
“We warn that the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond and retaliate,” a spokesman said, according to Iranian state media.
