Tankers and bulk carriers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, April 18. AP-Yonhap
The U.S. Navy's forcible seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo ships threw doubt on an announcement from President Donald Trump that U.S. negotiators will head to Pakistan on Monday for another round of talks with Iran.
Trump's announcement Sunday had raised hopes of extending a fragile ceasefire set to expire by Wednesday, but Iran has not confirmed it will attend.
Trump also said the U.S. forcibly seized the cargo ship that tried to circumvent a naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, the first such interception since the blockade of Iranian ports began last week.
He said a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom” and that U.S. Marines had custody of the vessel, named Touska, and were “seeing what’s on board!”
Iran’s joint military command said Tehran will respond soon and called the U.S. seizure an act of piracy.
The escalating standoff threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed fighting that has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, nearly 2,300 in Lebanon, 23 civilians and 15 soldiers in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.
Iran’s forensic medicine head says death toll now over 3,300
Iran on Monday offered a new death toll for the war with Israel and the United States, with its forensic chief saying at least 3,375 people had been killed in the conflict.
The figure came from Abbas Masjedi, the head of Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization.
Source: Korea Times News
