Washington. The US military said on Tuesday it had seized a tanker linked to Iran in international waters, its latest apparent action to enforce a blockade, with time running out on a ceasefire and the prospect of last-ditch further peace talks still up in the air.
Washington has expressed confidence that talks with Iran will go ahead in Pakistan, and a senior Iranian official said Tehran was considering joining. But with the final hours of a two-week truce ticking by, there was little time left for the talks.
The U.S. military said it had boarded the tanker Tifani "without incident". The ship, capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude, last reported its position on Tuesday morning as near Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, according to MarineTraffic tracking data. It was close to fully loaded and had signalled Singapore as its destination.
"As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran — anywhere they operate," U.S. Central Command said.
In a short statement on social media, Trump said Iran had carried out numerous violations of the ceasefire, without giving further details.
There was no immediate comment from Iran on the boarding, but the move could complicate efforts to arrange peace talks: Iran has said the blockade of its ports amounts to a U.S. violation of the truce, and that it will not negotiate while the blockade is being enforced.
Iran US talks up in the air
Iranian sources told Reuters Tehran still had not made a firm decision on whether to attend another round of peace talks in Islamabad, aimed at ending the war that the U.S. and Israel unleashed on Iran on February 28.
Pakistani officials said that if the delegations do attend, they will not arrive until Wednesday, leaving just hours to reach a deal before the two-week truce expires.
Trump has threatened to restart the war and attack Iran's civilian infrastructure unless it accepts his terms. A first session of talks 10 days ago produced no agreement and Tehran had been ruling out a second round this week after the U.S. refused to end its blockade and seized an Iranian cargo ship.
