The US Navy had seized an Iranian cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman that tried to breach the US blockade imposed on Iranian ports, President Donald Trump said.
“The destroyer USS Spruance intercepted the ship TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman and warned it to stop. The Iranian crew refused, our navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room,” Trump wrote. “The Marines are now taking control of the ship.”
It was the first time the US military had forcibly seized an Iranian vessel since the blockade was imposed a week ago, a step marking a dramatic escalation just before the fateful talks in Pakistan.
“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,” Trump wrote.
“The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop. The Iranian 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!” the president added.
The TOUSKA (IMO 9328900) is a container ship sailing under the Iranian flag and owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. According to the US Treasury Department, the vessel has been on the sanctions list since June 2020. According to MarineTraffic data, the ship was stopped in the Gulf of Oman near the border between Iran and Pakistan.
According to a report by shipping-monitoring service TankerTrackers, the TOUSKA left Port Klang in Malaysia carrying cargo. The ship crossed the US blockade line before being intercepted by naval forces. At the same time, according to the same report, an empty Iranian oil tanker managed to cross the blockade line without interference.
The naval blockade on Iranian ports took effect a week ago, on April 13, after the first round of talks in Islamabad ended without results. According to US Central Command data, by Saturday 23 ships had turned back after being warned by the US Navy.
Iran’s official news agency reported Sunday that Tehran would not hold another round of talks as long as the naval blockade remained in place, although Iranian sources told CNN that the delegation would arrive in Islamabad on Tuesday.
According to the Iranian presidency, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke by phone Sunday with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and described the naval blockade as “a clear violation of the ceasefire.” He added that these actions, along with threatening rhetoric from senior US officials, “expose that the US seeks to repeat past patterns and betray diplomacy.”
