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A Iranian Revolutionary Guard armed boat fired this Wednesday at a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, damaging the vessel and complicating diplomatic efforts to resume negotiations between Washington and Tehran in Pakistan.
The attack occurred hours after President Donald Trump announced the indefinite extension of the ceasefire with Iran—which was set to expire this Wednesday—to give Tehran time to formulate a "unified proposal" for potential discussions in Islamabad.
The UK Maritime Commercial Operations Center, a monitoring body operated by the British military, reported that the Revolutionary Guard boat did not make any prior radio call before opening fire on the vessel.
The captain of the vessel reported that the entire crew was safe and that there was no fire or environmental damage as a result of the attack.
Iran provided a contradictory account: the Nour News agency stated that the Guard only fired after the ship "ignored the warnings from the Iranian armed forces," while the semi-official Fars agency described the attack as Iran "legitimately asserting its control over the Strait of Hormuz."
In a statement released this Wednesday, the Revolutionary Guard vowed to "deal crushing blows beyond the enemy's imagination to their remaining assets in the region."
The incident is part of a recent escalation: last weekend, the United States captured the Iranian cargo ship MV Touska in the northern Arabian Sea after the USS Prudence destroyer fired on its engine room, and also boarded a second tanker linked to Iranian oil trade in the Indian Ocean. Iran has described these actions as "armed piracy" and vowed to retaliate.
Trump confirmed that the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports will continue even with the extension of the ceasefire, a measure that Tehran has labeled as "unacceptable" and which costs them approximately 500 million dollars daily. Iran has not offered formal recognition of the ceasefire extension announced by Trump.
The Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for the decision and noted that it would allow for ongoing diplomatic efforts. "Pakistan will continue its sincere efforts for a negotiated settlement of the conflict," he wrote on X.
Pakistan is working to organize a second round of negotiations in Islamabad, but Iran has not confirmed its participation. The first round, held on April 11 and 12, concluded without an agreement after 21 hours of talks. The contentious issues were Iran's nuclear program, the regional groups aligned with Tehran, and control of the Strait.
The Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres, expressed hope that the extension of the ceasefire would create critical space for diplomacy and trust-building between Iran and the United States, according to his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
The conflict, which began on February 28 with a coordinated attack by the United States and Israel against more than 1,000 Iranian targets, has severely restricted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil and natural gas flows during peacetime. Brent crude was trading near 98 dollars per barrel this Wednesday, an increase of more than 30% since the start of the war.
The human toll of the conflict amounts to at least 3,375 dead in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel, over a dozen in Arab Gulf states, 15 Israeli soldiers, and 13 U.S. military personnel in the region.
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