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Iran Fires on Ships in Strait of Hormuz04/22 06:21
Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, intensifying
its assault on shipping in the waterway crucial to global energy supplies and
complicating already faltering efforts to bring the United States and Iran
together for talks to end the war.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iran fired on three ships in the Strait
of Hormuz on Wednesday, intensifying its assault on shipping in the waterway
crucial to global energy supplies and complicating already faltering efforts to
bring the United States and Iran together for talks to end the war.
The attacks were carried out by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard,
according to Iranian media, which reported that the force seized two of the
ships and was bringing them to Iran.
That amounted to an escalation by Iran's leaders, who appear poised to drive
a harder bargain with American negotiators after President Donald Trump said
the U.S. would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran that had been due to
expire Wednesday.
Despite the extension, Trump also seemed to dig in, saying the U.S. would
continue to blockade Iranian ports.
That set the stage for continued disruption to traffic in the strait,
through which 20% of the world's oil and natural gas pass in peacetime, even if
the ceasefire largely holds.
Already the conflict has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region
and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. The longer the
strait remains closed, the more severe and widespread the effects will be --
and the longer it will take the economy to bounce back.
Three ships come under attack in the Strait of Hormuz
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 Center.
Iranian state television later reported that the ships were both attacked by
the Revolutionary Guard and were in the force's custody and being taken to Iran.
The semiofficial Nour News, Fars and Mehr news agencies then reported the
Guard attacked a third vessel, which it said had become "stranded" on the
Iranian coast, without elaborating.
There have been more than 30 attacks on ships in the Mideast since the war
began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran.
It's not clear when talks will restart
Iran's ability to restrict traffic through the strait -- which leads from
the Persian Gulf to the open ocean -- has proved a major strategic advantage.
While the ceasefire means that American and Israeli airstrikes have stopped
in Iran -- and Tehran's missiles no longer target Israel and the wider Middle
East -- the attacks in the strait and earlier American interdictions of Iranian
ships show the maritime threat remains.
Without any diplomatic agreement, those attacks will likely deter ships from
even attempting to pass through the waterway, and further squeeze global energy
supplies. Wednesday's attacks saw Brent crude oil, the international standard,
spike to nearly $100 a barrel, up more than 35% since the war started.
As the assaults unfolded, Iran's Revolutionary Guard vowed to "deliver
crushing blows beyond the enemy's imagination to its remaining assets in the
region."
The night before, hard-line supporters of Iran's theocracy held rallies in
which the Guard showed off missiles and launchers -- a sign of defiance to
Israel and the U.S., which devoted much of their airstrike campaign to
destroying the county's ballistic missile arsenal.
It's not clear when talks might restart. Iran's Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Esmail Baghaei acknowledged Trump's ceasefire extension in
comments reported Wednesday by Iranian state television but did not
specifically say Tehran was ready to attend a new round of talks.
Earlier, Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, the head of the Iranian mission in Egypt,
told The Associated Press that no delegation would go to Pakistan until the
U.S. lifts its blockade.
Two Pakistani officials told the AP that Islamabad is still waiting to hear
from Tehran on when it will send a delegation. They spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
One killed in drone attack in Lebanon
In Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah
broke out after the U.S. and Israel launched their initial strikes, the
state-run National News Agency said a morning Israeli drone strike on the
village of Jabbour killed one and wounded two others.
Israel's military denied that it had attacked the area.
A 10-day ceasefire went into effect in Lebanon on Friday, but there have
been several Israeli strikes and Hezbollah claimed its first attack on Tuesday.
Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran,
according to authorities. More than 2,290 people has been killed in Lebanon, 23
people have died in Israel and more than a dozen have died in Gulf Arab states.
Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the
region have been killed.
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