US Intercepts Three Iranian Tankers in Asian Waters

The U.S. military has intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged tankers in Asian waters and is redirecting them away from their positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday.

Washington has imposed a blockade on Iran's trade by sea while Iran has fired on ships to prevent them sailing through the Strait of Hormuz waterway at the entrance to the Middle East Gulf. Nearly two months after the U.S. and Israel began their war on Iran, there is little sign of peace talks resuming during an uneasy ceasefire.

The closure of the strait has disrupted supply of a fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies, and caused a global energy crisis. U.S. forces have seized an Iranian cargo ship and an oil tanker in recent days.

Iran said it had captured two container ships seeking to exit the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after firing on them and another vessel, its first seizures since the war began.

The U.S. has diverted at least three more Iranian-flagged oil tankers in recent days, according to two US and Indian shipping sources and two separate Western maritime security source who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday.

The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the interceptions.

One of the vessels was the Iranian-flagged Deep Sea supertanker, which was part loaded with crude and last seen on its public tracking transponder off Malaysia's coast a week ago, according to the sources and ship tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform.

The smaller Iranian-flagged Sevin, which had a maximum capacity of 1 million barrels and was carrying 65% of its load, was also intercepted. The vessel was last seen off Malaysia’s coast a month ago, ship tracking data showed.

The Iranian-flagged supertanker Dorena was also intercepted, fully loaded with 2 million barrels of crude, and last seen off the coast of southern India three days ago, according to the sources and ship tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform.

The U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday in a post on X that the Dorena has been under the escort of a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean after attempting to violate the blockade.

U.S. forces may have intercepted the Iranian-flagged Derya tanker, shipping sources said. The vessel failed to discharge its cargo of Iranian oil in India before a U.S. waiver on Iranian crude purchases expired on Sunday. That vessel was last seen off India’s western coast on Friday, according to MarineTraffic data.

U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday that since the start of its blockade against ships entering or exiting Iranian ports, U.S. forces had directed 29 vessels to turn around or return to port.

The U.S. military has not listed all the ships it has intercepted and did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the Deyra and the Deep Sea.

A third maritime security source said the US military was looking to target Iranian ships away from the Strait of Hormuz and in open waters to avoid any risk of floating mines during operations.

IRAN’S SEIZURES

Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, tightening its grip on the strategic waterway after U.S. President Donald Trump called off attacks with no sign of peace talks restarting.

Trump maintained the U.S. Navy blockade of Iran's trade by sea, and Iran's parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said a full ceasefire only made sense if it was lifted. Reopening the strait was impossible with such a "flagrant breach of the ceasefire," Qalibaf said in a post on X.

"You did not achieve your goals through military aggression and you will not achieve them by bullying either. The only way is recognizing the Iranian people's rights," he said in his first response to Trump's ceasefire extension.

Trump has backed away from recent threats to bomb critical Iranian infrastructure, but little progress has been made in resolving issues key to ending the war that started with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28. That leaves the two sides in a holding pattern with the crucial Strait of Hormuz still effectively shut, stranding about one-fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies, straining economies across the world.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency earlier said the Revolutionary Guards had seized two vessels for maritime violations and escorted them to Iranian shores. It was the first time Iran has seized ships since the war began at the end of February.

The Revolutionary Guards also warned that any disruption to order and safety in the strait would be considered a "red line", Tasnim said.

Brent, the international crude oil benchmark, closed above $100 a barrel for the first time in two weeks. The ongoing blockade of the strait is driving up costs for businesses while major economies run down reserves and restrict consumption with millions of oil barrels cut off from key markets.

NO NEW DEADLINE FOR CEASEFIRE

Trump said on social media late on Tuesday that the U.S. had agreed to a request by Pakistani mediators "to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal ... and discussions are concluded, one way or the other."

Trump has not set a new end date for the extended ceasefire, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Leavitt said Trump wants to see a "unified" response from Iran's leadership to his proposals to end hostilities. U.S. officials believe Iran's actions suggest it is internally divided on how to respond.

Pakistan, which has acted as a mediator, was still trying to bring the sides together after both failed to show up for talks on Tuesday before the two-week-old ceasefire had been due to expire.

"We were all prepared for the talks," a Pakistani official briefed on the preparations told Reuters. "If you ask me honestly, it was a setback we were not expecting, because the Iranians never refused, they were up to come and join, and they still are."

SHOW OF DEFIANCE

In a show of defiance, Iran showcased some of its ballistic weapons at a parade in Tehran on Tuesday evening, with images on state TV showing large crowds waving Iranian flags and a banner in the background with a fist choking off the strait.

Captions read: "Indefinitely under Iran's Control" and "Trump could not do a damn thing", referring to the strait, which Iran has effectively shut to ships other than its own by attacking vessels that attempt to transit without its permission.

The Revolutionary Guards accused the seized ships, the Liberia-flagged Epaminondas and Panama-flagged MSC Francesca, of operating without required permits and tampering with their navigation systems.

Greece's Technomar Shipping, which operates Epaminondas, confirmed the ship was captured. Epaminondas reported being fired upon about 20 nautical miles northwest of Oman, sustaining damage to its bridge, though no one was hurt in the incident.

MSC, the world's biggest container shipping group, did not respond to a Reuters request for immediate comment.

A third, Liberia-flagged container ship was fired upon in the same area but was not damaged and had resumed sailing, according to maritime security sources.

Leavitt told Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum” that since the ships were not U.S. or Israeli vessels the seizure was not a violation of the ceasefire. She called it an act of "piracy" and said the use of small gunboats showed that Iran's navy had been destroyed and that Iran does not have control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Normally, around 130 vessels transit the strait on a daily basis. That figure has dwindled sharply since the outset of the war.

U.S.-IRANIAN DIFFERENCES REMAIN ON KEY ISSUES

With his announcement on Tuesday, Trump again pulled back at the last moment from warnings to bomb Iran's power plants and bridges, a threat condemned by the United Nations and others as potentially constituting war crimes. Iran had said it would strike its Arab neighbours if its civilian infrastructure was hit.

A first session of peace talks 11 days ago produced no agreement.

Washington wants Iran to give up highly enriched uranium and forgo further enrichment to prevent it getting a weapon. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is peaceful, wants an end to the war, the lifting of sanctions, reparations for damage and recognition of its control over the strait.

An Israeli strike killed two people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, Lebanon's state news agency reported, and Hezbollah said it launched an attack drone at Israeli forces in the south, further straining a ceasefire between the Iran-backed group and Israel.

The Lebanon ceasefire had been a precondition for Iran agreeing to talks.

(Reuters)