The US downplayed Iran's seizure of two European-owned vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as both sides sought the upper hand in their rival maritime blockades, with a stalemate in negotiations to end the war showing no sign of breaking.
Iran attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and escorted two of the vessels to Iranian waters.
The operations demonstrated that two months into the war, Iran’s small attack boats can still control traffic in the waterway, despite US claims that its navy has been decimated.
Iran escorted two vessels, the Greek-owned, Liberian-flagged cargo ship Epaminondas, and Francesca, a boxship owned by the Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company, into its territorial waters.
The seizures came after the US detained an oil tanker in the Indian Ocean earlier this week, sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil.
