Iran demonstrated its tightened control over the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday (23) with a video of its commandos storming a huge cargo ship, following the collapse of peace talks that Washington hoped would open the world’s most important maritime corridor.
State television arriving in a gray speedboat alongside the MSC Francesca, climbing a rope ladder to a hatch in the hull and jumping through it brandishing rifles.
The images, presented with an action movie-style soundtrack and no commentary, also included scenes from another ship, the Epaminondas. Iran, accusing them of trying to cross the strait without authorization.
The vice-president of Parliament, Hamidreza Hajibabaei, stated that the use of the strait was transferred to the central bank account. He did not provide further details about who paid, when or how much.
The head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, said the merchant ships attacked in the strait “responded to the law.”
Iranian speedboats and maritime drones were sheltered in sea caves near an island near the entrance to the strait, preventing the US Navy from approaching.
Pakistan maintains contact with parties involved in negotiations
Iran, which has effectively blocked the strait to ships other than its own since the United States and Israel began war in February, remains in apparent control of the waterway since last-minute peace talks were called off on Tuesday, hours before the end of a two-week ceasefire.
Tehran says it will not consider opening the strait, normally the route for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, until the US lifts the blockade on Iranian shipping, which Washington imposed during the ceasefire and which Tehran considers a .
The US military has intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged oil tankers in Asian waters and is redirecting them away from positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, maritime and security sources said on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump called off threats to resume attacks on Iran in the final hours of the ceasefire on Tuesday, but refused to lift the blockade. Despite the announcement, there was no formal extension of the ceasefire and no plans were announced for further negotiations.
Iranians described a tense environment under threat of a resumption of war.
“In a situation that is neither peace nor war, things are a bit scary. Every moment, you think that Israel or the US might launch an attack,” Arash, 35, a civil servant in Tehran, told Reuters news agency by phone. “You can’t make decisions about the future in a situation like that.”
Pakistan, which hosted the only peace talks of the war earlier this month and was preparing to host a second round before it was canceled on Tuesday, was still in contact with both sides, a Pakistani government source said.
The Pakistani source said Iranian officials were still refusing to commit to sending a delegation, citing the US blockade and other reasons.
The United States was supposed to host, separately, a second round of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon this Thursday (23). Lebanon reached last week in a war that runs parallel to the war with Iran.
Israeli strikes killed five people on Wednesday, the deadliest day in the country since the US-brokered truce came into force last week.
Iran says maintaining the ceasefire in Lebanon is a precondition for negotiations on the wider war.
