U.S. forces seized an Iranian container ship near Iran’s Gulf coast in the early hours of Monday, raising tensions hours before the United States was scheduled to send negotiators to Pakistan for talks to end the war.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and President Donald Trump claimed the Tosca was collided because it did not comply with U.S. orders to withdraw from a planned Strait of Hormuz passage. The US has been under a naval blockade since last Monday.
Iran responded by calling the attack and hijacking an act of “piracy” and threatening to retaliate. On Monday, hours after the attack and occupation, Iran said it had no plans to send negotiators to talks with the United States in Islamabad.
It is the first non-military Iranian vessel known to have been attacked by U.S. forces during the current war, and the first Iranian cargo ship seized by U.S. forces since the start of the week-long naval blockade.
Here’s what we know about the ship’s seizure and why it matters.
what happened?
Shortly after midnight in Iran, CENTCOM announced that the country’s guided missile destroyer USS Spruance fired a 5-inch (127mm) MK45 gun into the ship’s engine room, disabling it.
According to the U.S. military, the Towska was heading from the Arabian Sea through the Strait of Hormuz to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
Since April 13, the U.S. military has imposed a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran blocking most ships from passing through the narrow waterway, except those from countries with which it has signed agreements.
The U.S. military has imposed a blockade, banning ships belonging to Iran or ships entering or leaving Iranian ports from passing through the strait. This effectively prevents Iranian vessels from exporting oil to other countries. According to Al Jazeera calculations, Iran earned nearly $5 billion from oil exports in the month leading up to the U.S. blockade.
“The U.S. military issued multiple warnings and notified the Iranian-flagged vessel (Touska) that it was violating the U.S. blockade,” CENTCOM said.
A CENTCOM statement said that before the American destroyer opened fire on the Iranian ship, “After six hours of repeated warnings from the Touska’s crew, Spruance ordered the ship to evacuate its engine room.”
U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit then boarded the Towska and captured it. In a grainy video released by CENTCOM, U.S. soldiers can be seen flying from the USS Tripoli in a helicopter and descending onto the Touska using ropes.
What do we know about Touska?
The container ship flies under the Iranian flag. At 294 meters (965 ft) in length, it is only slightly shorter than the 332.8 meters (1092 ft) of the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The width of Touska is 32.25 meters (105.8 ft).
The ship and its owner have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control. They are accused of helping Iran break sanctions.
It is unknown what Towska was carrying. Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the US military is “watching what’s going on.”
What does Iran say about the ship seizure?
Early Monday morning, Iran called the seizure of the Towska an “act of piracy.”
Hours later, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghai told reporters that Tehran had no plans to send negotiators to Islamabad for a series of talks that Pakistan is looking to host as soon as Tuesday. The United States announced that negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would travel to Islamabad for negotiations on Monday.
Baghai accused the United States of “violating the ceasefire agreement” that has been in place between the United States and Iran since April 9.
“Iran does not trust the United States,” he said. Asked about the US negotiators scheduled to visit Islamabad, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said: “There are indications from the US side that they lack seriousness in pursuing the diplomatic path.”
Separately, Iran’s military announced it would counterattack the US over the seizure of the vessel.
“We warn that the armed groups of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon counter and retaliate against this act of armed piracy by the U.S. military,” said Khatam al-Anbiya, a spokesman for Iran’s Joint Forces Command.
