Iran fires on 3 ships in the Strait of Hormuz as US maintains blockade and diplomacy stalls

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and seized two of them Wednesday, intensifying its assault on shipping in the key waterway. The attacks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports.

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the strait — where 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime — with no end in sight. Iranian media said the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was bringing the two ships to Iran, marking a further escalation, though the White House said the seizures didn't violate ceasefire terms.

The conflict has already sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, nosed over $100 per barrel, marking a 35% increase from prewar levels, but stock markets still appear to be shrugging it off.

The European Union energy commissioner, Dan Jørgensen, warned of lasting impact for consumers and businesses, likening it to other major energy crises over the last half-century. He said the disruption is costing Europe around 500 million euros ($600 million) each day.

Iranian media said the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas were being escorted to Iran. The U.S. had earlier seized two Iranian vessels as the ceasefire talks were due to take place in Pakistan.

Technomar, the management company behind the Liberian-registered Epaminondas, said it was “approached and fired upon by a manned gunboat” off the coast of Oman. It said the ship's bridge was damaged.

A second cargo ship came under fire hours later, with no report of damage, though it was then stopped in the water. No injuries to the crews of either vessel were reported. Panama condemned what it called the “illegal seizure” of the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca, and said it represented a serious attack on maritime security.

The Guard attacked a third ship, identified as the Euphoria, which had become “stranded” on the Iranian coast, Iranian media reported, without elaborating.

Still, Iran's seizure of the ships didn't violate truce terms because “these were not U.S. or Israeli ships, these were two international vessels,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Channel.

There have been more than 30 attacks on ships in the Mideast since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28 with a surprise attack on Iran. Before then, the strait was open for all traffic.

Vortexa, an analytics firm focusing on global energy and freight markets, said it has recorded 34 movements of sanctioned and Iranian-linked tankers in and out of the Persian Gulf in the week after the U.S. imposed its blockade on April 13.

The firm identified 19 outbound and 15 inbound movements. Six of the outbound movements were “confirmed laden with Iranian crude, representing about 10.7 million barrels,” it said in an email. It was not immediately clear whether all those barrels reached markets overseas.

Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait — which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean — has proved a major strategic advantage

While the ceasefire means American and Israeli airstrikes have stopped in Iran — and Tehran’s missiles no longer target Israel and the wider Middle East — the maritime standoff continues and could escalate.

Without any diplomatic agreement, the attacks will likely deter ships from even attempting to pass through the waterway, further squeezing global energy supplies.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker who met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Pakistan earlier this month, said a complete ceasefire “only makes sense” if it is not violated by the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.

“Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such flagrant breach of the ceasefire,” he wrote on X.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told state TV that Iran has not decided whether to take part in a new round of negotiations, and accused the U.S. of a “disregard and lack of good faith” in the negotiations.

Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, the head of the Iranian mission in Egypt, earlier told The Associated Press no delegation would go to Pakistan until the U.S. lifts its blockade.

The U.S. has turned back 31 vessels since its blockade began, U.S. Central Command said Thursday.

In the Iranian capital, Tehran, many grappled with the uncertainty.

“We should know where we stand. Is it going to be a ceasefire, peace, or the war is going to continue?” said Mashallah Mohammad Sadegh, 59. “The way things currently are, one doesn’t know what to do.”

In southern Lebanon, three separate Israeli strikes killed at least six people and wounded others, according to local authorities. Israel denied carrying out one of the strikes and did not immediately comment on the others.

The attacks came as Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors prepared for a new meeting in Washington on Thursday toward extending a fragile 10-day ceasefire that began last week and provided an opening for Iran and the United States to move toward ending the wider war.

An Israeli drone struck the village of Jabbour, killing one person and wounding two others, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. Israel’s military denied it attacked the area.

Lebanon’s health ministry said two Israeli strikes on al-Tiri village killed three people, including a newspaper correspondent, and injured one other journalist.

Authorities said the body of Lebanese reporter Amal Khalil, who worked for the daily Al-Akhbar, was pulled from the rubble hours later. Lebanon’s health ministry said a team searching for her was unable to reach her while Israeli forces fired at an ambulance. Khalil had been covering Israel-Hezbollah hostilities since October 2023 and was reporting during the latest war, the newspaper said.

Israel’s military alleged people in al-Tiri violated the ceasefire and posed a risk to its troops safety. It denied it prevented rescue teams from reaching the area or that it targets journalists.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said a separate Israeli strike on the village of Yohmor killed two people and injured two others.

Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel from Lebanon days after the war's outbreak, sparking retaliatory strikes and an Israeli ground invasion. The ceasefire that started Friday has been marred by several Israeli strikes and Hezbollah claimed its first attack Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said a French peacekeeper wounded in a weekend attack in Lebanon died of his wounds. Another French peacekeeper was killed in the attack Saturday when the force came under small-arms fire in southern Lebanon.

Macron blamed the attack on Hezbollah, which denied involvement.

Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, according to authorities. More than 2,290 people have been killed in Lebanon, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen have died in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the Epaminondas container ship.

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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan; Lorne Cook in Brussels; Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece; and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.