Iran Guards say ‘seized’ two ships attempting to cross Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that their naval forces stopped two ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz and directed them to the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic.

The seizures come as Iranian ports remain under a naval blockade by the United States, imposed on April 13 days after a ceasefire was announced that paused its war with Iran.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval force this morning identified and stopped in the Strait of Hormuz two violating ships,” the Guards said in a statement.

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“The two offending ships… were seized by the IRGC’s naval forces and directed to the Iranian coast,” it added, although it was not immediately clear if the Guards boarded them.

They identified one ship as “MSC-FRANCESCA”, which they said belonged “to the Zionist regime” in reference to Israel, and the other as “EPAMINONDAS”, which they said was “tampering with navigation systems and jeopardising maritime security.”

The Guards further warned against any action against the regulations imposed by the Islamic republic in the strait, “as well as activities contrary to the safe passage” through the waterway.

Tehran has said vessels must seek permission to leave or enter the Gulf through Hormuz, a route that in peacetime accounts for a fifth of the world’s oil and gas exports along with other vital commodities.

Since the start of the war with Israel and the United States, which began on February 28, Iran has allowed only a trickle of ships to pass.