WASHINGTON —Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its naval forces seized two cargo vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and redirected them to the Iranian coast on Wednesday.
Iranian state media cited the IRGC Navy as claiming the vessels did not obtain permission to transit the strait, which the IRGC last week declared would remain closed in response to the US Navy’s continued blockade of Iranian ports.
The IRGC accused the crews of the Panama-flagged MSC-Francesca and the Liberia-flagged Epaminodas of “operating without necessary authorization” and “manipulating their navigation systems” as they attempted to exit the strait. The IRGC further alleged the Francesca was linked to Israel, without offering further details.
Why it matters: Iran’s seizure of the two cargo ships came just a day after the US Navy intercepted what Pentagon officials said was a stateless, US-sanctioned crude oil tanker in the Indian Ocean near the Bay of Bengal.
US Marines and special operations forces fast-roped onto the deck of the M/T Tifani, which US officials said was laden with Iranian crude loaded earlier this month at Iran’s main export terminal at Kharg Island in the Gulf.
That was the second interdiction of an Iran-linked tanker under US sanctions this week, after the Pentagon’s top-ranking military official last week vowed to pursue Iran’s so-called ghost fleet anywhere in the world — not just in and around Hormuz.
On Sunday, a US Navy destroyer, the USS Spruance, fired its 5-inch deck gun into the engine room of another tanker listed under US sanctions, the M/V Touska, which military officials said had tried to outrun the US blockade of Iranian ports outside of Hormuz.
What’s next: President Donald Trump on Tuesday unilaterally extended a 10-day ceasefire in the war with Iran, which had been set to expire overnight.
Trump said he has ordered the US Navy to continue its blockade of Iranian ports to increase economic pressure on the Islamic Republic as his administration seeks diplomatic talks to end the war.
Iran’s lead negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, suggested in an X post earlier this week that his side would not negotiate amid the continued US blockade, which Iranian officials have pointed out constitutes an act of war.
“In a matter of days, Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted on X on Thursday. “Constraining Iran’s maritime trade directly targets the regime’s primary revenue lifelines,” Bessent said.
Know more: Washington’s economic blockade of Iran’s ports could take months to impact the IRGC’s economic lifelines, former US officials familiar with the plans told Al-Monitor.
Iran has weathered years of US sanctions since the first Trump administration, but blockading its Gulf coast threatens to cut off some 90% of its seaborne exports, including crude oil, which makes up more than a quarter of the Iranian government’s revenue.