Satellite imagery reveals that more than 33 IRGC fast-attack boats are massed near the Strait of Hormuz in a major Iranian show of force.
Iran fired on three ships, less than 24 hours after Donald Trump extended the deadline. The attacks carried out by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard came after President Trump said the U.S. would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran, due to expire on Wednesday. It will continue until Iran presents “a unified proposal.”
President Trump also told them to “Get their S*** together.”
Trump said the U.S. would continue to blockade Iranian ports, and the attacks reinforced the dangers to traffic in the strait, through which 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas pass in peacetime.
That means that even if the ceasefire largely holds—and Iran and the U.S. do not resume major attacks—the war will continue to strain the global economy. The conflict has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products.
According to The Washington Times, Iran said it won’t negotiate until the U.S. withdraws. They claim to have seized two ships, and another is stranded.
Iranian state television later reported that the ships were in the Revolutionary Guard’s custody and being taken to Iran. It identified the vessels as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas. The ship’s owners could not be immediately reached for comment.
Two ships were seized. One is linked to Israel, the other to Greece.
The washington Post reported earlier:
Iran opened fire on a container ship in the strait on Wednesday morning, and a second was attacked a short time later, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center.
Iranian state television later reported that the ships were in the Revolutionary Guard’s custody and being taken to Iran. It identified the vessels as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas. The ship’s owners could not be immediately reached for comment.
The seizures represent an escalation by Iran’s leaders, who appear poised to drive a harder bargain with American negotiators after two other rounds of talks with the Trump administration ended in open warfare.
The semiofficial Nour News, Fars, and Mehr news agencies then reported that the Guard attacked a third vessel, the Euphoria. They said the vessel had become “stranded” on the Iranian coast, without elaborating. That part is not true.
The current location shows that Euphoria is in Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates. So that part about them being “stranded” off the Iranian coast sounds like a lot of b.s. It appears to have passed through the Strait and is in the UAE.
The UKMTO said the first ship was attacked by a Revolutionary Guard gunboat that did not hail the ship before firing. It added that nobody was hurt in the attack.
Iran’s Nour News, however, reported that the Guard only opened fire on the ship after it had “ignored the warnings of the Iranian armed forces.” Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency described the attack as Iran “lawfully enforcing” its control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Watch:
WATCH: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked multiple ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, less than a day after President Trump extended the ceasefire indefinitely until Tehran agrees to negotiate a new deal. pic.twitter.com/755YYwXQkl
— The Hill (@thehill) April 22, 2026
The closing of the Strait isn’t the calamity it would have been in 1979. Most of the global community is working around it. It’s only a big headache.
Meanwhile, Iran must either escalate or come to the table. They have little time before their wells are full and they have to be capped. Reopening wells is time-consuming and expensive. They could also be damaged in the reopening.
Iran hasn’t shot at U.S. ships yet.
Someone will end it, and that will be the United States. At some point, the U.S. will go in and obliterate the 33 fast-attack boats.