Trump says U.S. Marines have seized Iranian ship and says it tried to evade blockade | EUROtoday

U.S. Marines have seized an Iranian cargo ship that was trying to move by means of the American naval blockade within the Strait of Hormuz, in response to President Donald Trump.

Trump introduced the seizure in a publish on Truth Social on Sunday night.

“Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them,” he wrote.

Trump mentioned that the ship’s crew “refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom.”

“Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!” Trump wrote.

The U.S. started its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on April 13 following a failed peace negotiation in Islamabad, Pakistan between American and Iranian officers.

“We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that’s what they’re doing,” Trump instructed reporters on Monday outdoors the Oval Office.

He warned on Monday that any Iranian ships approaching the blockade can be “immediately eliminated.”

“If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is quick and brutal.”

Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, criticized Trump’s continued threats on Sunday, together with these surrounding the blockade.

“You cannot keep violating the international law, double down on your blockade, threaten Iran with further war crimes, insist on unreasonable demands, pace out with rethorics (sic) and pretend to be pursuing ‘Diplomacy,’” he wrote on X.

He added that “as long as the naval blockade remains, fault lines remain.”

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned on Friday that Iran will shut the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. blockade continues.

“If the blockade continues, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open,” Ghalibaf wrote in a publish on X.

He additional acknowledged that “transit in the Strait of Hormuz will take place based on a ‘designated route’ and with ‘authorization from Iran.'”

On Thursday, U.S. General Dean Cain, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, mentioned the blockade applies to “all ships, regardless of nationality, heading into or from Iranian ports.”

The Trump administration additionally introduced on Thursday that it plans to broaden its naval actions in opposition to Iran by concentrating on any ships carrying its exported oil, in response to the Wall Street Journal. The Pentagon mentioned it will board the ships no matter the place they’re on this planet.