WASHINGTON -- The US Department of War said Thursday that its forces had intercepted an Iran-linked oil tanker in the Indian Ocean.

The vessel, named "Majestic X," was reportedly transporting oil from Iran.

"We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate," the department said on X.

Amid the US-Iran ceasefire being unilaterally extended on Washington's terms and ongoing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has blamed the United States for the latest stalemate in negotiations, prolonging global anxiety and volatility.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always welcomed and continues to welcome dialogue and agreement," said Pezeshkian in a post on X late on April 22.

"Bad faith, siege, and threats are the main obstacles to genuine negotiation. The world is witnessing your hypocritical, empty talk and the contradiction between your claims and your actions," he added.

However, the White House pointed to a lack of unified response from the Iranian side, saying it is US President Donald Trump who will "ultimately dictate" how long the extension of a ceasefire will last.

"We see a lot of different messaging and rhetoric coming out of Iran — and I would caution you against taking anything they say at face value. What they say publicly is much different than what they concede to the US and our negotiating team privately," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on April 22.

Leavitt said that the US maintains control over the situation and leverage over the Iranian regime.

"Not only have they been significantly weakened and obliterated militarily, but they are losing economically and financially every single moment that passes with this blockade. So the president is going to continue to lead the free world, to run the United States of America as we await the Iranian response," she added.

Iran's parliament and Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) are jointly reviewing a proposed plan to assert sovereign control over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Mehr News agency reported on April 23.

Fadahossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said both the legislative body and SNSC are examining proposals on the strategic waterway.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X that a complete ceasefire "only makes sense if it is not violated by the maritime blockade and the hostage-taking of the world's economy, and if the Zionist warmongering across all fronts is halted".

He said that reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such a flagrant breach of the ceasefire.

"They did not achieve their goals through military aggression, nor will they through bullying. The only way forward is to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation," said Ghalibaf.

On April 23, the Islamic Republic News Agency and Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting published the first footage showing the IRGC navy seizing a violating container ship in the Strait of Hormuz since the Trump administration said Iran no longer had a navy.

The IRGC said it seized two foreign vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and opened fire on a third for violating its restrictions on shipping transiting the waterway.

Haji Babaei, Iran's second deputy speaker of parliament, also said the first revenue from tolls collected on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz had been deposited into Iran's Central Bank, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, the US Central Command said that US forces have directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of Washington's blockade against Iran.

It noted that a majority of the vessels have complied with US directions and that most of the vessels asked to turn around have been oil tankers.

The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon assessment said it could take six months to completely clear the Strait of Hormuz of Iranian-laid mines, which could keep oil prices high.

International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said the world had lost 13 million barrels of oil supply per day amid the war.

Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump did not view Iran's seizure of two European ships by force near the Strait of Hormuz as a breach of the extended US ceasefire with Iran, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday.

"These were not US ships. These were not Israeli ships. These were two international vessels," she said on Fox News.

"These two ships were taken by speedy gunboats. Iran has gone from having the most lethal navy in the Middle East to now acting like a bunch of pirates. They don't have control over the strait. This is piracy that we are seeing on display," Leavitt said.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said earlier Wednesday that it had seized two vessels "allegedly operating without proper authorization, repeatedly violating regulations, and manipulating navigation systems."

The IRGC also targeted a Greek-owned ship named Euphoria on Wednesday, a third "violating ship" attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which is now stranded on Iran's shores, the Iranian semi-official Fars news agency reported.

WASHINGTON - US defense officials briefed lawmakers this week on an intelligence assessment that it could take six months to fully clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines deployed by the Iranian military, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Furthermore, any such operation is unlikely to be carried out until the US-Israeli war with Iran comes to an end, members of the House Armed Services Committee were told on Tuesday, according to the report. This means gasoline and oil prices could remain elevated through the US midterm elections.

Iran may have emplaced 20 or more mines in and around the strait. Some were floated remotely using GPS technology, which has made it difficult for US forces to detect the mines as they are deployed, a senior defense official told lawmakers. Others are believed to have been laid by Iranian forces using small boats.

The disclosure was made in a classified briefing for lawmakers, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell acknowledged in a statement, while criticizing the related reports as "inaccurate."

"As we said in March, one assessment does not mean the assessment is plausible, and a six month closure of the Strait of Hormuz is an impossibility and completely unacceptable to the (Defense) Secretary," Parnell said, without specifying how long it could take.

US President Donald Trump told Fox News on Wednesday there is "no time frame" for ending the US-Israeli war with Iran.

TEHRAN -- Iran has not yet made a definitive decision on whether to participate in the second round of peace talks with the United States in Pakistan, due to the US contradictory behavior, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei.

US expert teams for negotiations with Iran reach Islamabad: Pakistani sources.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan is still awaiting Iran's formal confirmation of its delegation for the Islamabad peace talks, the country's Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a social media post on Tuesday.

Tarar said Pakistan, acting as a mediator, remains in constant contact with Tehran and continues to pursue diplomacy and dialogue. He said Iran's decision to attend the talks before the two-week ceasefire deadline is critical.

He added that Pakistan has made sincere efforts to persuade the Iranian leadership to join the second round of talks, and these efforts continue.

WASHINGTON -- The US Department of War said Tuesday that its forces had boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude.

Ship-tracking data showed the vessel located in the Indian Ocean, between Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

"Overnight, US forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the stateless sanctioned M/T Tifani" in the US Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility, the Pentagon said on social media platform X.

"International waters are not a refuge for sanctioned vessels," it further said.

"As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran, anywhere they operate," the Pentagon said.

The incident came after US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that US forces have intercepted and taken custody of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named Touska, which was trying to bypass its naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman.

Iran has attacked US military ships in retaliation for the US seizure of its vessel, according to latest news reports.

Earlier, Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters warned that it will "soon respond" to the US "armed maritime piracy," according to Iran's Press TV.

TEHRAN -- Iran has not sent any delegation to Pakistan for new peace talks with the United States, state-run IRIB TV said on Tuesday.

"No Iranian diplomatic delegation, be it a primary or secondary team, or an initial or follow-up mission, has traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, so far for the talks," the report said.

TEHRAN - An Iranian oil tanker has transited the Strait of Hormuz despite a US naval blockade, after delivering two million barrels of oil to Indonesia's Riau Islands, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - The fragile two-week US-Iran ceasefire is set to expire Wednesday evening, clouding prospects for fresh negotiations and the future of the Strait of Hormuz, after US President Donald Trump depicted extension of the truce as "highly unlikely."

Asked if he expects strikes to resume immediately afterward if no deal is reached, Trump said, "If there's no deal, I would certainly expect."

The remarks came as Washington reportedly sought to keep diplomatic channels open. US Vice President JD Vance, who led the first round of face-to-face talks, is expected to depart for Islamabad by Tuesday for talks, Axios reported, citing US sources.

Signaling conditional openness to engagement, Trump told The Washington Post that he will be willing to meet senior Iranian leaders if a breakthrough is reached, and said in a separate interview with Bloomberg that his personal attendance at talks may not be necessary.

However, signals from Tehran remained mixed. Axios reported that the Iranian team received a green light from the supreme leader on Monday night to engage in talks with the United States, but officials stopped short of confirming participation.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier Monday that Iran currently has no plan for the second round of talks and that US actions are in no way indicative of its seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process.

The US "provocative actions" and "ceasefire violations" are major obstacles to continuing peace negotiations between the two countries, Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Monday.

Speaking anonymously to The Washington Post, a senior Iranian official said the tone of Trump's public statements and the ongoing US blockade were the two most serious issues threatening talks. The official added that while both sides largely agreed on the outlines of a deal, Trump's public "maximalism" risked scuttling the diplomatic progress.

Tensions remained elevated in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil trade passes. Iran briefly reopened the strait after the initial ceasefire but imposed new restrictions following the US Navy's seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that attempted to run the blockade over the weekend.

The Strait of Hormuz would remain blocked until a peace agreement is finalized, Trump said in a phone interview.

"They want me to open it. The Iranians desperately want it opened. I'm not opening it until a deal is signed," he said.

Despite the maritime standoff, some signs of domestic normalization was underway in Iran. Iran's Civil Aviation Authority announced Monday that Tehran's main airports -- Imam Khomeini International Airport and Mehrabad International Airport -- had reopened for passenger flights after weeks of wartime closures, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The original ceasefire had been hailed as a rare de-escalation after more than seven weeks of conflict. First-round talks in Islamabad earlier this month produced no breakthrough, with both sides trading public criticism since then.

There is cautious optimism that delegations from both the US and Iran would travel to Islamabad for a second round of talks this week, even though the seizure of an Iranian ship by the US near the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's retaliation have cast doubts over the feasibility of another deal.

Two Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that Iranian authorities have expressed their willingness to send a delegation for the talks, The Associated Press reported.

The officials refused to share details because of security considerations, and also urged the media to avoid speculation about the timing of the talks, saying the process remains fluid.

On Sunday, United States President Donald Trump said negotiators from Washington would reach Islamabad on Monday for another round of talks with Tehran, but Iranian officials did not directly respond to his announcement.

Instead, Iran offered a new death toll for the war, with its forensic chief saying on Monday that at least 3,375 people have been killed since the conflict started on Feb 28.

Trump said on Sunday that a US Navy guided missile destroyer targeted an Iranian-flagged cargo ship for trying to evade a naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz. It marked the first such interception since the US imposed its blockade on Iranian ports last week.

Iran's joint military command called the US seizure an act of "armed piracy" and, in retaliation, it sent drones to attack US military vessels.

Esmail Baghaei, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, accused the US of lacking seriousness about diplomatic efforts, highlighting that the US naval blockade and its seizure of the cargo ship were flagrant violations of the two-week ceasefire deal.

While Baghaei said Iran has no "immediate plans" to hold fresh talks with the US, he stopped short of ruling out future participation.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi briefed Iranian Ambassador Reza Amiri Moghaddam on arrangements for the upcoming talks during their meeting on Monday in Islamabad, according to the AP.

Naqvi was part of a delegation that visited Tehran last week to advance the peace process. A ministry statement said both sides stressed the need for a sustainable resolution through diplomatic channels to reduce regional tensions. The meeting came hours after Naqvi briefed US Charge d'Affaires Natalie Baker at the US embassy.

Oil prices climbed more than 5 percent on Monday as the standoff between Iran and the US prevented tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude, the international standard, traded above $95 a barrel, up more than 30 percent since the end of February.

"The security of the Strait of Hormuz is not free," Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref wrote on social media. "The choice is clear: Either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone."

Stability in global fuel prices depends on a guaranteed and lasting end to the economic and military pressure against Iran and its allies, he said.

To prepare for the US-Iran talks, Pakistan has placed Islamabad on high security alert. Nearly 20,000 police, paramilitary and army personnel have been deployed to secure the talks venue, police sources said.

The Strait of Hormuz is just one of the major obstacles ahead. According to statements from both sides and media reports, the nuclear issue remains another key point of contention.

Trump said last week that the US would work with Iran to remove Iranian enriched uranium. Citing informed sources, CNN reported that Washington is prepared to unfreeze Iranian assets worth $20 billion in exchange for Tehran handing over its stockpile, a proposal rejected by Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh as "impossible".

Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told Al Jazeera that military action alone would not open Hormuz, nor would it fix the US' problem with Iran's enriched uranium. The idea of a grand bargain in the short term is unattainable, he added.

"The best you can do is some kind of agreement of a basic framework," he said. "And then you have to go and quickly build on it. It will take at least months, if not years."

TEHRAN - Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Monday that US "provocative actions" and ceasefire violations are major obstacles to continuing peace negotiations between the two countries.

During separate phone calls with his Pakistani and Russian counterparts, Araghchi condemned US actions against Iranian commercial shipping, including the reported seizure of the container vessel Touska and its crew, and cited "contradictory positions and rhetoric of threat" from Washington, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

A ceasefire that took effect on April 8 after 40 days of fighting remains fragile. Pakistan has mediated indirect talks between Tehran and Washington, hosting a first round in Islamabad on April 11 and 12, but Iran has not confirmed participation in another round.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Tehran's attendance depends on Washington meeting preconditions. It cited a US naval blockade and "excessive demands" as key obstacles.

Araghchi said Iran would decide whether to continue diplomacy based on "all aspects of the issue" and US behavior, adding that Tehran would take steps to protect its interests and national security.

Tensions follow joint US-Israeli attacks on Tehran and other Iranian cities beginning Feb 28, which killed Iran's then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior commanders, and civilians. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and US assets in the Middle East.

TEHRAN -- Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Monday exchanged views on the latest regional developments and issues pertaining to the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

WASHINGTON -- US Vice-President JD Vance and the US delegation for peace talks with Iran will arrive in Islamabad within hours, the New York Post reported Monday.

The newspaper cited US President Donald Trump as telling it in a brief interview that the delegation is en route to the Pakistani capital for a second round of negotiations with Iran.

TEHRAN -- Iran's Civil Aviation Authority said Monday the permit has been issued for the resumption of passenger flights at the Imam Khomeini International Airport and Mehrabad International Airport in the capital Tehran starting Monday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Passenger flights at airports in Urmia, Abadan, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Kerman, Rasht, Yazd, Zahedan, Gorgan, and Birjand will also resume as of Saturday, the authority said in a statement cited by Fars.

Separately, Iran announced on Sunday that international flights from Mashhad International Airport in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi would restart the next day.

The country reopened its eastern airspace to international flights on Saturday, paving the way for the partial resumption of airport operations.

Iran shut down its airspace after joint US and Israeli strikes starting on Feb. 28, halting civilian aviation operations across the country.

The aviation authority has said that flight services at Iranian airports will gradually return to normal once technical and operational preparations are completed by military and civilian authorities.

Iran says removing nuclear stockpile never an option in talks with US.

WASHINGTON - The US Navy is using robots to clear underwater mines planted by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

A demining operation combining manned and unmanned systems is adopted by the US military to remove the mines laid by Iran, using both surface and underwater drones equipped with sonar detectors, a US defense official was quoted as saying.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday on his Truth Social platform that "Iran, with the help of the USA., has removed, or is removing, all sea mines!" Iran did not respond to the claim.

After Iran re-closed the strait following a brief opening, 35 outbound vessels have turned back over 36 hours, according to a report by Britain-headquartered maritime analytics company Windward.

Iran tightened control over the strait after the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on the country on Feb. 28. The United States also imposed a naval blockade on the strait following its failed negotiations with Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Iran says it attacked US military ships in retaliation for US seizure of Iranian vessel: media

Iran and the United States have separately hinted at some progress in their latest negotiations through intermediaries following short-lived diplomatic progress over the weekend, but both stopped short of giving assurances of any immediate end to their fighting.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was at a standstill on Sunday after Iran reasserted control over the strategic waterway, key to global energy supplies, days before a fragile ceasefire was set to expire.

The disruption happened on Saturday when US President Donald Trump said the US naval blockade on Iran's ports would continue despite Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying in a post on X on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz is open.

"In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Araghchi in a post on X, which as of this writing, had not been taken down.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Saturday that "control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state and this strategic strait is under strict management and control of the Armed Forces", the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Zolfaghari noted that Iran had earlier "agreed in good faith, following prior agreements in negotiations, to allow the managed passage of a limited number of oil tankers and commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz."

However, he accused Washington of continued "repeated breaches of commitments" and engaging in "piracy and maritime theft under the so-called blockade".

The Speaker of Iran's Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said in a televised address to the nation on Saturday, and as reported by Iranian media, that Tehran was simultaneously engaged in diplomacy, but was also ready for military confrontation.

He said Iran has no trust in its adversaries and warned that escalation remained possible while reaffirming that negotiations are ongoing alongside their readiness for necessary action, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Further, Qalibaf described Iran as victorious both on the ground and in diplomacy, referring to the country's approach as a "diplomacy of power". Qalibaf also said proposals had been relayed to Iran through several countries, including Pakistan, and were reviewed in detail by the Supreme National Security Council around the 36th day of the war.

He further criticized recent US moves to impose a naval blockade on Iran, calling them "misguided". The speaker added that after failing to impose its demands militarily or through threats, the aggressor — referring to the US — resorted to indirect messaging, noting that Iran remains even more resolute now than before the ceasefire.

Trump said on Saturday the US has "very good conversations going on" with Iran and that the US would not be "blackmailed" by Tehran.

He said Iran "got a little cute, as they have been doing for 47 years", adding that nobody "ever took them on. We took them on".

"They have no navy, they have no air force, they have no leaders. They have … nothing. Actually … it is regime change. You call that enforced regime change, but we're talking to them," said Trump, adding that Washington "was taking a tough stand".

Al Jazeera reported that Lloyd's List, a maritime news company, said that traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has come to a halt after Iranian forces fired on several ships on Saturday.

It said there had been a brief flurry of activity during the day, but traffic was back to a standstill by Saturday evening after radio transmissions warned ships that the strait had gone back to "strict management and control by the (Iranian) armed forces".

On Saturday, Iranian forces had targeted two vessels attempting to go through the Strait of Hormuz. In audio published by various media outlets, a terrified crew of the oil tanker Sanmar Herald alerted the Iranian navy that it had reportedly given the vessel clearance to proceed after it was fired upon by Iranian gunboats.

Iranian armed forces on Sunday prevented another two oil tankers from transiting the strait, the semiofficial Tasnim News Agency reported.

The vessels, sailing under the flags of Botswana and Angola, attempted to pass through the strategic waterway "illegally" but were forced to turn back following Iranian action, the report said.

Regarding the following peace talks, Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday that representatives are going to Islamabad on Monday night for Iran negotiations. Two Pakistani security sources said negotiations will likely be held before Friday, Al Jazeera reported.

The sources cited two US cargo aircraft, C-17 Globemasters, having landed at Noor Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi near Islamabad and said that the "roads from the airport to Islamabad's Red Zone have been temporarily closed, indicating heightened security arrangements".

The US and Iran's ceasefire deal is scheduled to expire this week.

Now in its eighth week, the conflict has created the most severe shock to global energy supplies in history, sending oil prices surging because of the de facto closure of the strait. Before the war, it carried one-fifth of the world's oil shipments.

On Friday, oil prices fell about 10 percent and global stocks jumped on the prospect of marine traffic resuming through the strait. But hundreds of vessels and about 20,000 seafarers remain stranded in the Gulf awaiting passage through the waterway, shipping sources said.

Agencies and Xinhua contributed to this story.