The American Marines took control of an Iranian ship, Donald Trump assured this Sunday, April 19. The ship was reportedly intercepted in the Gulf of Oman.
The American navy opened fire on Sunday on an Iranian cargo ship which was trying to force the blockade of Iranian ports by the United States and took control of it, Donald Trump said on Sunday on his Truth Social network. The cargo ship Touska, flying the Iranian flag, “tried to cross our maritime blockade, and got a bad start”, wrote the American president.
An American destroyer intercepted the cargo ship “in the Gulf of Oman and ordered it to stop”but the crew refused to obey, the warship immobilized them by firing on the engine room and “US Marines now have control of the ship”, selon Donald Trump.
Touska is targeted by US Treasury sanctions, he points out.
Tensions around Hormuz, again
According to the latest data available from the Marine Traffic site, the container ship Touska, which left Malaysia on April 12, was, around six hours before Donald Trump’s announcement, around 45 km from the far south of the Iranian coast, near the town of Chabahar.
According to the latest assessment published Saturday morning by the American army, since the start of the blockade of Iranian ports imposed by the United States on April 13, “23 ships complied with orders from US forces to turn around.”
Iran lifted its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, through which a fifth of world trade in oil and natural gas normally passes, but announced on Saturday that it would resume “strict control”, faced with the United States’ decision to maintain its blockade of its ports.
A French ship targeted by Tehran
In a previous message on Truth Social on Sunday morning, Donald Trump accused Tehran of having violated the ceasefire, which expires in three days, by launching attacks on Saturday in the Strait of Hormuz, targeting in particular a French ship and another British one, according to him.
A CMA CGM ship “was the subject of warning shots yesterday (Saturday)” in the Strait of Hormuz, the French maritime transport group told AFP on Sunday.
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