Sam Magdy and Sam Metz
Updated ,first published
Two gunboats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard opened fire on an oil tanker trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, and a container ship was also damaged after being hit by an unidentified missile, shortly after Iran said it had imposed restrictions on the vital waterway.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre On Saturday night it reported an attack 20 miles northeast of Oman, and said the tanker and its crew were safe, without identifying the vessel or its destination. The ship’s captain also reported that the two boats opened fire without issuing a radio challenge.
In a separate incident, the station said it received a report of a cargo ship “hit by an unknown missile which caused damage to some containers”, 25 miles from north-east Oman.
Iran earlier announced it had quickly reversed course to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, imposing restrictions on the vital waterway on Saturday after the United States said it would not end its blockade of ships linked to Iran.
Iran’s joint military command said Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its original state … under the strict supervision and control of the armed forces.” It has warned that it will continue to block passage through the strait as long as US sanctions against Iranian ports continue to be enforced.
The announcement came the morning after US President Donald Trump said that even after Iran announced the reopening of the strait on Friday, US sanctions would “remain in force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the US, including on its nuclear program.
The dispute over the coal zone threatened to worsen the energy crisis that is plaguing the world economy after oil prices it started to fall again on Friday in hopes that the United States and Iran were close to reaching an agreement. About a fifth of the world’s oil goes through the ocean and further restrictions will reduce already tight supplies, sending prices soaring again.
Control over the strait has been seen as one of Iran’s main moves, prompting the United States to deploy forces and establish a blockade on Iranian ports as part of efforts to force Iran to accept a ceasefire brokered by Pakistan to end the nearly seven-week war that has raged between Israel, the United States and Iran.
Iran said it reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships after the announcement of a 10-day truce between Israel and Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
However, French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said a French soldier stationed among international forces in southern Lebanon had been killed and three other soldiers wounded in the attack, adding that evidence showed Hezbollah was involved.
Macron, in a post on X, called on the Lebanese government to take action against the alleged perpetrators. The soldiers were part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a peacekeeping mission in the south of the country.
An end to Israel’s war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week’s ceasefire by attacking Lebanon. Israel had said the agreement did not apply to Lebanon.
But after Trump said the blockade would continue, senior Iranian officials said his announcement violated last week’s cease-fire agreement between Iran and the United States and warned that the blockade would not remain open if U.S. sanctions remain in place.
The data company, Kpler, said movement through the route remains on corridors that require Iran’s approval. US forces have returned 21 ships to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, US Central Command said on X.
Despite the widening of the Strait of Hormuz, Pakistani officials say the US and Iran are still close to an agreement ahead of the April 22 ceasefire deadline.
A ceasefire in Lebanon could remove one major obstacle to an agreement. Speaking at a diplomatic conference in Antalya, Turkey, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the cease-fire in Lebanon was a positive sign, noting that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had been an important sticking point before talks in Islamabad ended “very close” to an agreement last weekend.
Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir visited Tehran, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar in Antalya, the army and Sharif’s office said. Pakistan is expected to host the second round of talks between Iran and the United States early next week.
Although negotiators were optimistic, it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by the accord, which had no role in the negotiations and would leave Israeli troops occupying southern Lebanon.
Trump said in another post that Israel is “banned” by the United States from further attacks on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the prohibition only applies to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defense.
Shortly before Trump’s inauguration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel he agreed to a cease-fire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not over.
He claimed that Israel has destroyed about 90 percent of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket arsenals and added that the Israeli military is “not done yet” with dismantling the group.
In Beirut, displaced families began moving to southern Lebanon and the suburbs of southern Beirut despite warnings from officials not to return to their homes until it is clear whether the ceasefire will continue.
The Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon reported sporadic shelling in some areas of southern Lebanon a few hours after the ceasefire came into force.
The war, which began with an attack by the United States and Israel on February 28, has resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in the Arab Gulf states. Thirteen American servicemen have also been killed.
AP, Reuters
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