Trump hints at talks in 72 hours even as Iran seizes 2 ships

President Donald Trump changed his aggressive stance on Iran and extended the ceasefire indefinitely, even as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Wednesday fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, seized two of them and was bringing them to Iran, according to Iranian media.

One of these, the container ship Epaminondas, indicated Mundra port in Gujarat as its destination, while another container ship Francesca, was signalling that it was heading to Hambantota port in Sri Lanka. The third vessel, container ship Euphoria, was indicating Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as its destination.

Trump extended the ceasefire at the request of Pakistan to give Tehran’s leadership more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, but said an economic blockade of Iran’s ports will remain in place. Iran’s parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said that a complete ceasefire only made sense if it was not violated by the US blockade. Qalibaf said the reopening of the strait was impossible with such a “flagrant breach of the ceasefire”.

Epaminondas and Francesca are operated by the world’s largest container shipping line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. Technomar Shipping, which owns Epaminondas, said all crew were “safe and accounted for” and no injuries were reported, but preliminary inspections indicated the ship’s bridge had been damaged.

Trump’s dramatic announcement came just hours before the two-week ceasefire was set to expire. Pakistan had urged an extension of the truce due to uncertainty surrounding the second round of talks. There was still no clarity on the date of the next round of talks.

On Wednesday, the New York Post quoted Trump as saying that the second round of the US-Iran talks could take place as early as Friday.

Such development was “possible” within the next 36 to 72 hours, the paper reported, quoting Trump.

However, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran has not yet decided whether to attend a new round of Pakistani-mediated talks in Islamabad.