Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, underscoring the ongoing threat to global energy supplies and complicating efforts to bring the United States and Iran together for talks to end the war.
The attacks, which Iranian media said were carried out by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, came after US President Donald Trump said the US would
indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran, due to expire on Wednesday.
But Trump said the US would continue to blockade Iranian ports, and the attacks reinforced the dangers to traffic in the strait, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and natural gas pass in peacetime.
Iran has offered no formal acknowledgement of Trump’s extension, but an Iranian diplomat said talks would not resume until the blockade is lifted.
Trump extends Iran ceasefire after claiming interception of ‘gift from China’
Trump extends Iran ceasefire after claiming interception of ‘gift from China’
Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, said Iran had not asked for a ceasefire extension and repeated threats to break the US blockade by force.
Iran opened fire on a container ship in the strait on Wednesday morning, and a second was attacked a short time later, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO).