US seizes Iranian vessel Touska amid ongoing mediation efforts

Updated by Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1352 EAT on Monday 20 April 2026

The United States military seized an Iranian container ship near the Gulf in the early hours of Monday, escalating tensions just hours before Washington is due to dispatch negotiators to Pakistan for talks aimed at ending the conflict.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) and President Donald Trump said the vessel, identified as the Touska, was targeted after it refused to comply with US orders to withdraw from its planned passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The United States has maintained a naval blockade in the area since last Monday.

Iran has denounced the incident as an act of “piracy” and warned it could retaliate. Within hours of the seizure, Tehran announced it would not send negotiators to planned talks with the United States in Islamabad.

The Touska is believed to be the first non-military Iranian vessel struck by US forces in the current conflict, and the first Iranian cargo ship captured since Washington imposed its week-long naval blockade.

What happened?
Just after midnight local time, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG-111) opened fire on the vessel’s engine room using its 5-inch (127 mm) MK 45 naval gun, leaving the ship disabled.

US officials said the Touska was attempting to transit from the Arabian Sea through the Strait of Hormuz, bound for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

The interception comes amid heightened tensions in the region. Since April 13, US forces have enforced a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran restricted access to the key shipping lane, allowing passage only to vessels from countries with agreements with Tehran.

Under the blockade, the United States military is preventing vessels owned by Iran—or travelling to or from Iranian ports—from transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The move effectively halts Iran’s ability to export oil via its own shipping routes. According to estimates by Al Jazeera, Iran earned nearly $5 billion from oil exports in the month preceding the blockade.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said American forces issued multiple warnings to the Iranian-flagged vessel, the Touska, stating it was in violation of the blockade.
“American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the US blockade,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

“After the Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room,” the statement added, before the destroyer opened fire.
Following the strike, US Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit boarded and seized the vessel. In footage released by CENTCOM, troops are seen deploying by helicopter from the USS Tripoli (LHA-7) before descending by rope onto the Touska.

Early on Monday, Iran condemned the seizure of the Touska, describing it as an act of “piracy”.

Hours later, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran would not send negotiators to Islamabad for talks Pakistan had hoped to convene as early as Tuesday. The United States, meanwhile, has said its envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are scheduled to travel to Islamabad on Monday for the proposed discussions.

Baghaei accused Washington of “violating the ceasefire” that has largely held between the US and Iran since April 9, adding that Tehran has little confidence in US intentions.

“Iran does not trust Washington,” he said. “There are indications from the American side that there is no seriousness to pursue diplomacy.”

In a separate statement, the Iranian military warned it would retaliate against the United States over the seizure of the vessel.

“We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this act of armed piracy by the US military,” a spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said.

-Aljazeera

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