President Donald Trump said Sunday afternoon that the U.S. military attacked and seized an Iranian cargo ship trying to get past the American blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, casting doubt over a new round of peace talks the president had announced early in the day.
“The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop,” Trump said on Truth Social. “The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom. Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel.”
The U.S. Central Command late Sunday afternoon confirmed the U.S. military action in a post on X, which included a 34-second clip that the Pentagon said captured the encounter.
Trump said the vessel was under U.S. sanctions “because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!”
Earlier, Trump said American negotiators would return to Pakistan Monday night for negotiations after Iran and the United States accused each other of violating a two-week ceasefire that expires on Wednesday. But Iranian state news said early Sunday morning local time said that reports of a “second round of negotiations in Islamabad are false,” citing U.S. posture and its blockade of the strait.
Iran had accused the U.S. of violating the ceasefire by blockading its ports and the U.S. accused Iran of violating the agreement by firing on two Indian-flagged ships on Saturday.
“A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Sunday morning, in which he also said his delegation of negotiators would return to Islamabad.
Pakistani Prime Minster Shehbaz Sharif, who has emerged as the primary mediator in the war, said that he “had a warm and constructive conversation” with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian Sunday, but did not confirm if Iran has agreed to a second round of diplomatic talks.
In a call Sunday with MS NOW’s Jacqueline Alemany, co-anchor of “The Weekend,” Trump said the U.S. delegation will include his special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. He said Vice President JD Vance would not join this round of negotiations for security reasons after leading their delegation last week.
After the call, however, two senior U.S. officials told MS NOW that Vance would, in fact, lead the delegation to Islamabad on Monday evening to start a second round of peace talks in hopes of ending the war. In response to a request for comment from MS NOW about what changed, the White House did not offer further clarification.
Trump again on Sunday threatened to destroy Iranian civilian infrastructure if Iran doesn’t reach a deal — with the two-week ceasefire set to expire this week and the strait remaining shut to Western shipping.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Trump said in his Truth Social post. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”
Under international law, the destruction of every power plant and bridge in Iran by the U.S. would be a war crime since some of them serve civilians. Diplomats from the region have told MS NOW that such threats could be interpreted by Iranians as a sign that Trump is desperate for a deal.
Iran did not immediately respond to Trump’s threats or his announcement that U.S. officials will return to Pakistan late Monday. But a spokesman for Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs suggested Sunday the two sides are far apart, calling the U.S. military blockade of Iran’s ports “not only a violation of Pakistani-mediated ceasefire but also both unlawful and criminal.”
A senior Iranian official told The Associated Press over the weekend that Iran was not ready to hold new face-to-face talks with U.S. officials and that the country would not hand over its enriched uranium to the United States.
Iranian officials said earlier this weekend that no ships would be allowed to pass through the strait, through which 20% of the world’s oil flows, as long as the U.S. military blockade remained in effect.
Trump’s announcement that U.S. negotiators are heading back to Islamabad and his renewed threats to destroy Iranian infrastructure come after a chaotic back-and-forth between Washington and Tehran over the past two days. Iran had announced the strait would reopen after Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon reached a 10-day truce. Iran reversed course after Trump said the U.S. blockade would “remain in full force.”
The U.S. and Iran continue to clash on several key issues. Trump reiterated in his call with MS NOW on Sunday that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they’ve agreed to that.”
The U.S. has demanded Iran completely stop its uranium enrichment, proposing in recent negotiations that it suspends all nuclear activity for 20 years. Iran rejected it, underscoring its right to enrichment. Iran has called on the U.S. to lift its crippling sanctions and return Iranian assets that have been frozen in overseas banks.
Emily Hung contributed to this report.
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