Iran asserts control over Strait of Hormuz, seizes ships after talks collapse

Iran flaunted its tightened grip over the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday with video of its commandos storming a huge cargo ship, after the collapse of peace talks that Washington had hoped would open the world's most important shipping corridor.

Iranian state television broadcast footage overnight of masked troops pulling up in a grey speedboat alongside the MSC Francesca, climbing a rope ladder to a shell door in the hull and jumping through, brandishing rifles.

The footage, presented with an action-movie-style soundtrack and no commentary, also included views of another ship, the Epaminondas. Iran said it had captured both on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to cross the strait without permits.

The war, launched by the US and Israel on February 28, has been paused since a ceasefire on April 8 but Israel warned on Thursday that it was ready to restart attacks.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel was waiting for a “green light” from the US to resume the war, saying that if it did, it would begin by targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and “return Iran to a dark age”.

“This time the attack will be different and deadly, delivering devastating blows in the most sensitive places,” he said in a statement released by his office.

Struggle for the Strait
With the attacks on hold, attention has shifted to the shipping lanes off the coast of Iran.

Tehran says it will not consider opening the Strait of Hormuz, normally the route for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, until the US lifts its blockade of Iran's shipping, which Washington imposed during the ceasefire and Tehran calls a violation of that truce.

In a social media post, US President Donald Trump said it was Washington that was in “total control” of the strait, which he described as “‘Sealed up Tight,’ until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!”.

Trump and his military officials have said Iran's navy is “at the bottom of the sea,” but Tehran's speedboats show that it can still wreak havoc on shipping.

Washington, which has been confronting Iranian ships in international waters to enforce its blockade, said it had boarded another tanker, the Majestic, in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, an apparent reference to a supertanker last reported off the coast of Sri Lanka carrying 2 million barrels of crude.

US forces have redirected 33 vessels since the blockade began, the military said on Thursday.

Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said the merchant vessels Iran had seized had “faced the law”, while Iranian speedboats and marine drones were sheltering in sea caves off an island keeping the US Navy from approaching.

The vice speaker of Iran's parliament, Hamidreza Hajibabaei, said the first revenue from a toll Iran was now collecting from ships using the strait had been transferred to the central bank. He gave no further details about who had paid it or how much.

‘Neither peace nor war’
Trump cancelled threats to restart attacks on Iran in the ceasefire's final hours on Tuesday. There has been no formal extension of the ceasefire, and no plans have been announced for further talks.

Iranians, who endured six weeks of US and Israeli bombardment before the ceasefire on April 8, described a nerve-wracking environment under threat of renewed attack.

“In a situation that is neither peace nor war, things are somewhat frightening. At every moment, you think that Israel or the US might launch an attack,” Arash, 35, a government employee in Tehran, told Reuters by phone.

Pakistan, which hosted talks this month and had been preparing for a second round before it was called off on Tuesday, was still in touch with both sides, a Pakistani government source said. Iranian officials were still declining to commit to attend over the US blockade, the source added.

The US was separately due to host a second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, with Lebanon seeking an extension of a ceasefire reached last week in a war that has run in parallel to the Iran war.