{"id":540244,"date":"2026-04-20T00:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T00:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/540244\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T00:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T00:53:09","slug":"us-military-seized-iranian-flagged-container-ship-trump-says-us-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/540244\/","title":{"rendered":"US military seized Iranian-flagged container ship, Trump says | US military"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/us-military\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US military<\/a> took custody of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/iran\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Iranian<\/a>-flagged container ship that attempted to get past an American blockade near the strait of Hormuz, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump<\/a> announced on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/116433000897070863\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a social media post<\/a>, Trump said that an \u201cIranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA\u201d tried to get past the US naval blockade, \u201cand it did not go well for them\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trump said that a US navy guided missile destroyer had warned the Touska to stop in the Gulf of Oman, but the vessel did not. \u201c[Our] Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room,\u201d Trump said, adding that US marines now have custody of the vessel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity,\u201d Trump added. The ship is <a href=\"https:\/\/sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov\/Details.aspx?id=25315\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">on the treasury department\u2019s list<\/a> of sanctioned vessels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Video <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DOWResponse\/status\/2045972572236321034\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow\">posted on social media<\/a> by the US defense department later showed the interception of the ship by US forces. The video includes audio of the container ship\u2019s crew being warned that they will be fired on if they refused to stop. \u201cVacate your engine room,\u201d a US sailor can be heard saying. \u201cWe\u2019re prepared to subject you to disabling fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The video then shows the USS Spruance firing on the Touska.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"US navy ship fires on vessel trying to get past blockade\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/US_navy_ship_fires_on_vessel_trying_to_get_past_blockade--267e38dd-841e-4531-9ea3-17a4d8fd2222-4.0.0.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" class=\"dcr-l300o4\"\/>US navy ship fires on vessel trying to get past blockade<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The cargo ship was stopped near Iran\u2019s border with Pakistan, and is more than 900ft long, according to the tracking website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinetraffic.com\/en\/ais\/details\/ships\/shipid:657791\/mmsi:422032600\/imo:9328900\/vessel:TOUSKA\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Marine Traffic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The Iranian government has not yet commented.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The latest military action by the US raises new questions about the possibility of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/apr\/15\/us-iran-indirect-talks-middle-east-war-ceasefire\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">extending a ceasefire<\/a> between the two warring nations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trump had previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/apr\/19\/trumps-sends-delegation-to-pakistan-for-possible-new-round-of-iran-war-talks\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced<\/a> that US officials would be headed to Pakistan on Monday for more talks with Iranian leaders about the ongoing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/us-israel-war-on-iran\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US-Israel war on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Touska had previously left Port Klang, a major port in Malaysia, when the vessel then attempted to move past the US blockade, according to tracking information from <a href=\"http:\/\/tankertrackers.com\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TankerTrackers.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US military took custody of an Iranian-flagged container ship that attempted to get past an American blockade&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-540244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}