The United States announced on Sunday that it had taken custody of an Iranian cargo ship that attempted to pass a blockade Washington has been maintaining around Iranian ports.

In response, Iran accused the US of breaking the ceasefire in the US-Israeli war, and vowed to retaliate.

The incident cast further doubt over the future of the truce, which is due to expire on Wednesday. Also on Sunday, Iran said it had “no plans” to attend negotiations in Pakistan aimed at ending the war, while Trump threatened to “knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran.”

The US has maintained a blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran has lifted and then reimposed its own blockade on marine traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which typically handles roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. US demands for freedom of movement in the strait, and Iran’s continued obstruction of it, are at the center of negotiations between the countries.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social site that the US had seized an Iranian vessel that tried to run the US blockade.

“Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA — nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier — tried to get past our naval blockade, and it did not go well for them,” Trump wrote in the post.

“The US Navy guided missile destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave [it a] fair warning to stop,” Trump continued. “The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineer room. Right now, US Marines have custody of the vessel.”

“The TOUSKA is under US Treasury sanctions because of [its] prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!” the US president added.

Iran’s top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya, later accused the US of violating the truce. State media quoted a Khatam al-Anbiya spokesperson as saying that the vessel was en route from China to Iran.

“We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy by the US military,” the spokesperson said.

U.S. forces operating in the Arabian Sea enforced naval blockade measures against an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel attempting to sail toward an Iranian port, April 19. Guided-missile........

© The Times of Israel