Tehran has accused Washington of violating a ceasefire, vowing to respond<\/p>\n
Iran has denounced a US attack on one of its vessels as \u201carmed maritime piracy,\u201d warning of retaliation.
\nOn Sunday, a US warship fired at and subsequently seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman. The military said the ship, identified as the Touska, was attempting to breach a naval blockade and head for Bandar Abbas through the Strait of Hormuz.
\nIn a statement released shortly afterward, Iran\u2019s military command center, Khatam al-Anbiya, condemned the strike on a vessel returning from China, accusing Washington of violating the ceasefire in place since April 8.
\n\u201cWe warn that the armed forces of… Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy and the US military,\u201d a spokesperson for the command center said, as cited by ISNA news agency.
\nUS President Donald Trump announced the blockade of Iranian ports last week after Pakistani-mediated talks failed to achieve a breakthrough.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
US Navy fires at and boards Iranian-flagged cargo ship (VIDEOS)<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the US blockade of Iran\u2019s ports and coastline is an act of aggression that violates the ceasefire.
\n\u201cBy deliberately inflicting collective punishment on the Iranian population, it amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity,\u201d Baghaei said on social media.
\nBaghaei\u2019s comments on Sunday followed renewed Iranian threats to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US blockade, effectively reclosing the strategic route which handles around 20% of the global oil and liquefied natural gas trade.
\nIran\u2019s Tasnim news agency later reported that Iranian forces launched drones toward US naval vessels. The Pentagon has not confirmed whether any ships came under attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tehran has accused Washington of violating a ceasefire, vowing to respond Iran has denounced a US attack on one of its vessels as \u201carmed maritime piracy,\u201d warning of retaliation. On…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t