Gujarat-bound ship among two vessels seized by Iran near Hormuz

NEW DELHI: Iran on Wednesday seized two vessels, one of them bound for Gujarat, against the backdrop of mounting tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, where the Trump-Tehran confrontation continues to intensify.The development comes close on the heels of a tense episode in which Iranian forces opened fire on an India-bound ship attempting to pass through the chokepoint, forcing it into an abrupt return. Iranian state television later reported that the ships were in the custody of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and were being taken to Iran. The vessels were identified as MSC Francesca and Epaminondas, though their owners could not be immediately reached for comment, as AP reported.According to marine traffic data, Epaminondas, a Liberian-flagged container ship, was en route to Mundra port in Gujarat’s Kachch district. Its navigational status was listed as “stopped.”Marine Traffic said: While initial reports suggested the two ships seized by IRGC were part of a six-vessel MSC convoy, track analysis conducted by it indicates it is unlikely they were transiting together with the other four vessels, which exited the area successfully. Instead, the two vessels appear to have followed a different route and were trailing behind the rest.Epaminondas, a chartered 6,690 TEU vessel deployed on the INDUSA service connecting India and the US East Coast, with intermediate calls at Khalifa Port and Jebel Ali, and MSC Francesca (11,336 TEU), operating on the Himalaya Express service linking India, the Persian Gulf, and the Mediterranean, had both been stuck in the Persian Gulf since the start of the conflict.Also read | ‘Ignored repeated warnings’: Iran fires on container ship in Strait of HormuzThe seizures mark a sharp escalation by Iran’s leadership, which appears to be hardening its stance following earlier rounds of talks with the Trump administration that devolved into open conflict.Despite a ceasefire facilitated by Pakistan earlier on Wednesday, tensions around the vital oil chokepoint remain high, strained by continued US blockade measures and restrictions imposed by the IRGC navy.