Oil tankers trying to move through one of the world's most important sea lanes came under fire again on Wednesday, just as Washington is trying to keep a fragile calm with Tehran alive. Iran attacked three vessels and said it seized two of them, the Wall Street Journal reports.
- UK maritime authorities say two commercial ships were attacked hours apart in the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which about a fifth of the world's oil and gas normally flows, CNBC reports. The UK Maritime Trade Operations center reports that one vessel was shot at about 8 nautical miles off Iran's coast but escaped damage and injuries.
- Earlier, a container ship northeast of Oman was approached by what was described as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gunboat, which allegedly opened fire and badly damaged the ship's bridge. All crew members on both vessels—IDed by Iranian state TV as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas, per the AP—were reported safe. The Journal reports that both ships were escorted to Iranian waters. According to Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency, the Guard said it captured the ships because they were "disrupting order and safety in the Strait of Hormuz."
- The semiofficial Nour News, as well as the Fars and Mehr news agencies, reported the Guard also attacked a third vessel called the Euphoria. They said the vessel had become "stranded" along the Iranian coast, without elaborating. Maritime intel company Vanguard said that ship was told to "drop anchor" by the IRCG, per the Guardian. The BBC reports that the ship later resumed sailing southward and dropped anchor near a port in the United Arab Emirates.
The incidents follow President Trump's move to prolong a ceasefire with Iran to give its leadership time to craft a "unified proposal" to end the war, even as Vice President JD Vance's Pakistan visit for follow-up talks is on ice and Iranian negotiators signal they won't return to the table, per CNBC. Recent strikes on commercial shipping have heightened concerns about a longer-lasting hit to the global economy.
- This story has been updated with new developments.
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