The vessel was attempting to make its way past American forces in the Gulf of Oman, the US president has said
The US has seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman as it attempted to breach the American naval blockade around Iran, President Donald Trump has announced.
“The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance intercepted the Touska in the Gulf of Oman and issued a warning to stop,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.
“The Iranian crew refused to comply, so our Navy ship stopped them in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room,” the president added.
Trump said that the ship had been sanctioned by the US due to its “prior history of illegal activity.”
Earlier
in the day, Trump announced that the US delegation was on its way to
Islamabad for a new round of talks with Iran. There would be “No more MR. Nice Guy,” if Tehran didn’t take his “fair and reasonable deal,” he said in a Truth Social post.
Tehran has not yet formally replied on the matter.
However,
Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan has stressed that the dispute between
Washington and Tehran will remain as long as the US naval blockade
continues.
On Saturday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
called the US Navy’s blockade of Iranian ports a violation of the
ceasefire and reimposed its closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran
briefly opened the key waterway after Washington brokered a fragile
truce between Israel and Lebanon, which the Islamic Republic originally
demanded be part of its ceasefire with the US.