Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei said Wednesday that Tehran would only engage in peace talks with Washington when it deems there to be a “necessary and rational basis” for negotiations “to advance national interests and consolidate the gains achieved by the Iranian people in frustrating the enemies’ objectives,” according to Iran’s official state news agency IRNA.
Three commercial vessels came under attack in the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday, according to international news agencies, with the U.K. military and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard confirming two of the strikes on cargo ships, potentially jeopardizing efforts to resume peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.
The U.K. military’s Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO) reported early Wednesday morning that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps gun boat fired at a container ship 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman.
There was no radio warning before the boat “fired upon the vessel” causing “heavy damage to the bridge,” according to UKMTO, which said all crew members were reported to be safe.
Three hours later UKMTO reported a second incident, this time 8 nautical miles west of Iran’s coast at the eastern entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, in which a cargo ship said it was fired upon and was “now stopped in the water.”
The crew were “safe and accounted for” and there was no mention of the suspected source of the fire, UKMTO said, but suspicion immediately fell on Iran.
In a statement, Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said two vessels it accused of violating its blockade of the strait “had entered the area without proper authorization and allegedly tampered with their navigation systems, thereby endangering maritime safety.”
The IRGC said the ships were intercepted “and escorted to the Iranian coast.”
The Reuters and Associated Press news agencies and CBS News’ British partner network BBC said a third ship was hit by gunfire in the strait Wednesday, but UKMTO did not immediately confirm that attack.
An advisor to Iran’s powerful parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who’s also one of the Islamic Republic’s lead negotiators, dismissed President Trump’s indefinite ceasefire extension as a ploy to buy time for a military build up ahead of a “surprise blow” against his country.
“The extension of the ceasefire by Trump means nothing,” Ghalibaf’s aide Mahdi Mohammadi said in a post on X. “The continuation of the siege [U.S. naval blockade] is no different from the bombing and must be responded to militarily. In addition, the extension of the ceasefire on Trump’s behalf definitely means buying time for a surprise blow.”
President Trump said he was extending the truce to give the Iranian regime time to formulate a clear response to his terms for a wider peace deal, and he’s repeatedly voiced optimism that Tehran will eventually capitulate to his demands under the economic pressure imposed by the naval blockade.
But with two U.S. aircraft carrier groups already deployed to the region, there are more than 50,000 American service members in the Middle East, compared to the roughly 30,000-40,000 typically based there.
A third carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, along with three missile destroyers, an amphibious assault ship carrying around 2,500 U.S. Marines and a dock landing ship — used to move people and hardware from sea to shore – are currently on their way to the region.
President Trump says Iran’s economy is hurting badly and as a result, Tehran wants the Strait of Hormuz opened at once.
On his Truth Social platform late Tuesday night, Mr. Trump said, “Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately- Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day. Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!”
Iran itself has been largely bottling up traffic through the vital waterway that a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes through in peacetime. The U.S. has been blockading all of Iran’s ports.
President Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran doesn’t want the Strait of Hormuz closed and that “They only say they want it closed because I have it totally BLOCKADED (CLOSED!), so they merely want to ‘save face.'”
“People approached me four days ago, saying, ‘Sir, Iran wants to open up the Strait, immediately.’ But if we do that, there can never be a Deal with Iran, unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included!” Mr. Trump wrote.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on X that, due to the ongoing U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, “in a matter of days, Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in.”
Kharg Island is a critical oil export terminal for Iran.
“Constraining Iran’s maritime trade directly targets the regime’s primary revenue lifelines,” Bessent said. “The US Treasury will continue to apply maximum pressure through Economic Fury to systematically degrade Tehran’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds.”
“Any person or vessel facilitating these flows—through covert trade and finance—risks exposure to U.S. sanctions,” he added.
On March 20, the Trump administration temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian oil that is already at sea in an effort to ease worldwide gas prices. That waiver expired on Sunday.
President Trump said Tuesday afternoon on Truth Social that he was extending the ceasefire, which had been set to expire in the coming hours.
“Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Mr. Trump wrote. “I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”
