Iran has warned it will ‘soon retaliate’ against Washington after the US Navy seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
The regime accused the US of violating the two-week ceasefire and branded the seizure of the vessel called Touska a ‘maritime and armed robbery’.
The threat came after Iran reportedly rejected a second round of peace talks after President Donald Trump said more negotiations would take place on Monday.
Tehran accused the US of ‘excessive demands’ and blamed the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz for its absence, according to Iran’s state IRNA news agency.
It blamed ‘Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions and the ongoing naval blockade’ for its refusal to negotiate, the agency reported.
It comes just a day before US Vice President JD Vance was due to arrive in Pakistan for peace talks as a fragile two-week ceasefire continues.
Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, says global fuel prices could stabilize only if economic and military pressures on Iranian oil exports end.
‘One cannot restrict Iran´s oil exports while expecting free security for others,’ Aref wrote on X. ‘The choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone.’
Iran’s Hazrat Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters confirmed the attack by the US military on a ship in the Sea of Oman in a statement carried by the Tasnim News Agency.
It said: ‘The aggressive America, by violating the ceasefire and committing maritime piracy, attacked one of Iran’s commercial ships in the waters of the Sea of Oman by firing upon it and disabling its navigation system by deploying several of its terrorist marines on the deck of the mentioned vessel.
‘We warn that the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond to and retaliate against this armed piracy by the US military.’
Stock futures slid sharply Sunday night as a result of the escalating tensions following the seizure of the cargo ship.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 450 points, or roughly 0.9 percent, while S&P 500 futures dropped around 0.8 percent.
Nasdaq-100 futures also declined, pulling back approximately 0.6 percent as geopolitical uncertainty weighed on investor sentiment.
Iran’s top diplomat has told his Pakistani counterpart that Washington’s demands in negotiations and its threats to Iranian ships and ports mark ‘clear signs’ of America’s disingenuousness.
Abbas Aragchi made the remarks in a phone call to Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, according to Iranian state media.
It’s another indication of how the Washington-Tehran stand off is sharpening as the ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday.
It could also shake up plans for a new US-Iran round of talks in Islamabad this week.
Earlier, Trump announced that US negotiators would head to Pakistan for talks – but Iran has not confirmed it would attend.
The escalating stand off threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed fighting that has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, nearly 2,300 in Lebanon, 23 civilians and 15 soldiers in Israel, and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.
The Iranian military headquarters said the attack and subsequent boarding of the Iranian vessel by US forces was a violation of the ceasefire.
The United States says it fired on the ship and seized it because it had crossed the blockade line after ignoring multiple warnings.
US Central Command released a message sent by a US Mariner to the Iranian-flagged tanker in a video posted on X, saying it shows the moments before the U.S. seized Touska for crossing the U.S.-imposed blockade line in the Gulf of Oman.
‘Motor vessel Touska, Motor vessel Touska. Vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We are about to subject you to disabling fire,’ can be heard in the video. Later, three rounds are fired, leaving smoke in their wake.
CENTCOM said its fire targeted the vessel´s engine room before forces seized the ship. It said Touska was headed to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and ignored multiple US warnings over six hours to evacuate the engine room.
The USS Spruance then fired, after which Marines boarded and took hold of the ship.
‘American forces acted in a deliberate, professional, and proportional manner to ensure compliance,’ it wrote on X.
Trump said on Truth Social on Sunday that Iran had ‘fired bullets’ in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that ‘many of them were aimed at a French ship and a freighter from the United Kingdom.’
The president said the ship was warned by a US Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman to stop but it did not.
‘Our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room,’ Trump explained.
He said US Marines had custody of the cargo ship and were ‘seeing what’s on board!’
The seizure escalates a back-and-forth with Iran over traffic in the strait and comes as the US was preparing for a second round of in-person talks with Iran as a fragile ceasefire runs out in days.
