DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, damaging the vessel and complicating efforts to bring the United States and Iran together in Pakistan for talks to end the war.
The morning attack by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard came after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran, which had been due to expire on Wednesday, to give Tehran time to come up with a “unified proposal” ahead of possible negotiations.
Iran has offered no formal acknowledgment of Trump's ceasefire extension.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for agreeing to the extension, saying it would buy time for ongoing diplomatic efforts.
“With the trust and confidence reposed in us, Pakistan shall continue its earnest efforts for a negotiated settlement of the conflict,” he wrote on X.
Trump said the U.S. would continue its blockade of Iranian ports, which Iran has called “unacceptable,” and has indicated was a reason it had not yet agreed to join talks in Islamabad.
The Revolutionary Guard vowed Wednesday to “deliver crushing blows beyond the enemy’s imagination to its remaining assets in the region.”
Iran claims ship ignored warnings before attacked
Wednesday's attack in the Strait of Hormuz came after the U.S. seized an Iranian container ship after shooting it this past weekend and boarded an oil tanker associated with Iran’s oil trade in the Indian Ocean.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre, a monitoring agency run by the British military that first reported the 7:55 a.m. attack, said a Revolutionary Guard gunboat did not hail the ship before firing. It added that nobody was hurt in the attack.
Source: WPLG
