Iran’s navy said it had seized two cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz and taken them to the Iranian coast, after reports that three vessels were fired on by Iranian forces. It happened on Wednesday morning, 22 April, the day the first truce between Iran and the United States was due to expire.
Nour News, which is affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) opened fire on a ship it called the Epaminodes after the crew “ignored the warnings of the Iranian armed forces.” BBC Verify understands the vessel was a Greek-owned ship named Epaminondas. A second ship, the Euphoria, was stopped after being “fired upon,” and then a third, the MSC-Francesca, was targeted, BBC Verify reported. Fars News Agency, which is linked to the IRGC, said the Guard was behind the attacks.
What each side says
The IRGC Naval Command announced that it had seized the Epaminondas and the Panama-flagged MSC-Francesca for endangering maritime security “by operating without the necessary permits and tampering with navigation systems.” Iranian state television reported that cargo and documents on both would be examined. The IRGC statement did not mention the Panama-flagged Euphoria, so it is unclear who targeted it. Data showed that ship, owned by a UAE-based company, listed Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as its destination.
Reports from UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and the maritime intelligence firm Vanguard said the Epaminondas’s master had been told the ship had permission to transit. An IRGC gunboat approached anyway and opened fire, causing significant damage to the bridge. Greece’s Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis told CNN: “I can confirm that there was an attack against the Greek cargo ship, but I cannot confirm that this has been seized by the Iranians.”
The MSC-Francesca was hit about six nautical miles off Iran while heading south out of the strait into the Gulf of Oman. Vanguard said the IRGC hailed the ship and “instructed to drop anchor.” The vessel reported damage to the hull and accommodation.
The ships seem to have belonged to a larger convoy of the shipping company MSC, which had been in the Persian Gulf since before the conflict began. Linerlytica data showed four other vessels from the group have since crossed the strait, apparently with transponders switched off.
The diplomatic backdrop
Iran and the US agreed the two-week truce on 8 April. Trump said it was conditional on Iran reopening the strait, and Iran agreed to let ships through with passage coordinated by its military. On 13 April the US began a naval blockade of traffic in and out of Iranian ports, announced less than a day after long talks in Pakistan produced no deal. US Central Command said on Tuesday that 28 vessels had been told to turn around or return to an Iranian port.
Hours before the seizures, Trump extended the ceasefire until talks conclude. He said on Tuesday that Pakistan, a mediator, had asked him to hold off attacking Iran, that the blockade would continue, and that Iran was “collapsing financially.” Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said reopening the strait was “not possible” given “all the blatant violations of the ceasefire,” and described the blockade as holding the global economy “hostage.” President Masoud Pezeshkian later called the blockade and “breach of commitments” obstacles to “genuine negotiations.” Iran’s foreign ministry told the BBC it had not decided whether to attend a new round of talks.
