Sawt Falasteen - Iran says won't reopen Hormuz if US upholds naval blockade

While strikes around the region have mostly ceased since the truce began, there has been no letup in the pressure around the crucial trade route, with the two sides exercising their economic leverage in a bid to force the other to back down.

With the ceasefire due to expire earlier this week, US President Donald Trump announced an indefinite extension at the eleventh hour, to allow more time for peace talks brokered by Pakistan.

Iran said it welcomed the efforts by Pakistan but made no other comment on Trump's announcement.

"A complete ceasefire only has meaning if it is not violated through a naval blockade," said Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran's delegation in the first round of talks in Islamabad.

"Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not possible amid a blatant violation of the ceasefire."

Oil prices jumped four percent before easing Thursday, as the foes appeared no closer to holding new negotiations.

Trump told the New York Post that talks could resume in Pakistan within two to three days, even though Iran has not confirmed participation and Vice President JD Vance put his travel to Islamabad on hold Tuesday.

The US leader also claimed that Iran at his request had halted alleged plans to execute eight women arrested over massive anti-government protests in the weeks before the attack.

But Iran's judiciary described his remarks as "false news", saying the women had never faced the death penalty.

- Ships seized -

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they forced two ships to the Iranian shore from the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway for about one-fifth of the world's oil and gas flows.

"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval force this morning identified and stopped in the Strait of Hormuz two violating ships," the Guards said in a statement.

They identified the vessels as the Panama-flagged container ship MSC Francesca and the Liberia-flagged Epaminondas.

Panama's foreign ministry confirmed the seizure of the MSC Francesca, calling it a "serious attack on maritime security" and an "unnecessary escalation".

UK-based maritime security monitors confirmed that three commercial vessels had reported incidents involving gunboats in the strait.

Among them, a container ship reported being fired upon by a Revolutionary Guards boat 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman, causing damage to the bridge but no casualties, monitor UKMTO said.

CENTCOM hours later announced on X that US forces had since the start of the US blockade of Iran's ports "directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port".

Under orders from Trump, the US Navy is attempting to block vessels heading to or from Iranian ports, seeking to ramp up pressure on the Iranian economy.

In the midst of the blockade, the Pentagon announced Wednesday that the Secretary of the Navy John Phelan would leave "immediately".

It gave no reason for his sudden departure, the latest removal of a senior officer under Trump's combative Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth.

The US Defense Department said Tuesday that US forces had intercepted and boarded a "stateless sanctioned" vessel. AFP has identified the ship as one linked to Iranian activity. Both sides accuse the other of ceasefire breaches.

- Lebanon-Israel talks -

After the ceasefire with Iran, the United States helped broker a truce between Israel and Lebanon including Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia Muslim movement that had fired rockets into Israel in revenge for the attacks on its patron.

Despite the declared truce, Israeli strikes killed five more people on Wednesday, Lebanese media said.

Amal Khalil, a journalist for the newspaper Al-Akhbar, was killed and her fellow reporter Zeinab Faraj was wounded in an Israeli strike near the border, the paper said.

Israel and Lebanon, which have no diplomatic relations, will hold a second round of talks in Washington on Thursday.

Lebanon will request a one-month extension of the ceasefire during the meeting, a Lebanese official told AFP.

Lebanon will also seek "an end of Israel's bombing and destruction in the areas where it is present and a commitment to the ceasefire", the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the talks.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 2,450 people since the start of the war, according to Lebanese authorities.

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J.AbuHassan--SF-PST