DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, intensifying its assault on shipping in the waterway crucial to global energy supplies and complicating already faltering efforts to bring the United States and Iran together for talks to end the war.
The attacks were carried out by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, according to Iranian media, which reported that the force seized two of the ships and was bringing them to Iran.
That amounted to an escalation by Iran’s leaders, who appear poised to drive a harder bargain with American negotiators after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran that had been due to expire Wednesday.
Despite the extension, Trump also seemed to dig in, saying the U.S. would continue to blockade Iranian ports.