TheUS militaryhas intercepted at least threeIranian-flagged tankers in Asian waters and is redirecting them away from their positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, shipping and security sources told Reuters on Wednesday. United States Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed on Thursday that American forces "have directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of the US blockade against Iran". According to military officials, the bulk of these intercepted ships were identified as oil tankers.
Nearly two months after the US and Israel began their war on Iran, there is little sign of peace talks resuming during an uneasy ceasefire. Washington has imposed a blockade on Iran's trade by sea, while Iran has fired on ships to prevent them sailing through the Strait of Hormuz waterway at the entrance to the Middle East Gulf.
On Wednesday, Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz, tightening its grip on the strategic waterway a day after US President Donald Trump announced he was indefinitely calling off attacks, with no sign of peace talks restarting.
The status of a two-week-old ceasefire, due to expire earlier this week, remained unclear. Trump made what appeared to be a unilateral announcement on Tuesday that the US would extend a ceasefire until it had discussed an Iranian proposal in peace talks to end the two-month-old war.
But Iranian officials did not say they had agreed to any extension of the truce, and criticised Trump's decision to maintain the U.S. Navy blockade of Iran's trade by sea, itself considered by Iran an act of war.
Iran's parliament speaker and lead negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said a full ceasefire only made sense if the blockade was lifted. Reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the slender chokepoint that carried a fifth of the world's oil trade before the war, was impossible with such a "flagrant breach of the ceasefire," Qalibaf said on social media.
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Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
