Iran vows swift response to US attack on cargo ship
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Iran’s top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya, has accused the US of violating a ceasefire by firing at one of Iran’s commercial ships in the Gulf of Oman, vowing to retaliate.
State media quoted a Khatam al-Anbiya spokesperson as saying the vessel was en route from China to Iran.
“We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy by the US military,” the spokesperson said early on Monday.
Earlier, President Donald Trump said the United States had forcibly seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that tried to get around a naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz.
He said a US navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman stopped the Iranian vessel by blowing a hole in its engine room.
“We have full custody of their ship, and are seeing what’s on board!” Trump wrote on social media.
The US Central Command said the destroyer had issued repeated warnings over a six-hour period.
The news of the attack on an Iranian-flagged vessel threw into question Trump’s earlier announcement that US negotiators would head to Pakistan on Monday for another round of talks with Iran.
That had raised hopes of extending a fragile ceasefire set to expire by Wednesday, although an Iranian state news agency reported Iranian officials did not plan to take part in the talks.
“Iran stated that its absence from the second round of talks stems from what it called Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency said.
Minutes after the ship seizure was announced, Iranian state media reported on President Masoud Pezeshkian’s phone conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday.
US actions including bullying and unreasonable behaviour, have led to increased suspicion the US will repeat previous patterns and “betray diplomacy”, the reports cited Pezeshkian as saying.
Sharif’s office said Pezeshkian had thanked Pakistan for its mediation efforts, in a readout of the call that made no mention of Iran rejecting the next round of talks.
Separately, Iran’s state broadcaster said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Pakistani counterpart on a phone call that recent US actions, rhetoric and contradictions were signs of “bad intentions and lack of seriousness in diplomacy”.
The United States has kept a blockade of Iranian ports in place, while Iran has lifted and then reimposed its own blockade of marine traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war began almost two months ago handled roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Iran’s announcement that it would walk away from negotiations came after Trump said his envoys would arrive in Islamabad on Monday evening, one day before a two-week ceasefire ends.
A White House official had said the US delegation would be headed by Vice President JD Vance, who led the war’s first peace talks a week ago, and also include Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The apparent diplomatic setback could set the stage for a renewed surge in oil prices when markets reopen after the weekend.
Now in its eighth week, the war has created the most severe shock to global energy supplies in history, sending oil prices surging because of the de facto closure of the strait.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, earlier said the two sides had made progress but were still far apart on nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz.
Two giant US C-17 cargo planes landed at Pakistan’s Nur Khan air base on Sunday afternoon carrying security equipment and vehicles in preparation for the US delegation’s arrival, two Pakistani security sources said.
City authorities in the capital Islamabad halted public transport and heavy goods traffic through the city.
Rolls of barbed wire were rolled out near the Serena Hotel where last week’s talks were held and the hotel told all guests on Sunday to leave.
with AP
Reuters