Fragile US-Iran ceasefire examined as drone strike off Oman attracts stern warning from the US president.
Printed On 26 Jun 2026
United States President Donald Trump has condemned what he known as Iran’s “silly violation” of the ceasefire settlement after a drone struck a cargo vessel within the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump didn’t establish the ship in his publish on Fact Social on Friday. However the British navy stated {that a} vessel was hit by a projectile off Oman on Thursday.
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The Singapore-flagged Ever Lovely, owned by Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine – had been stranded within the Gulf for greater than 100 days after loading cargo in Iraq.
No crew members had been injured and the ship was in a position to proceed its voyage. US forces intercepted three different drones launched in the identical coordinated assault.
“One of many Drones solidly hit the higher deck of a big and really costly Cargo Carrying Ship. Harm was executed, however the Ship was in a position to proceed on its method,” Trump wrote.
“Clearly, this can be a silly violation of our Ceasefire Settlement,” he added.
Iran has not claimed accountability for the assault, however two US officers instructed the Reuters information company on situation of anonymity on Thursday that Iran fired on the ship.
It comes at a fragile time, because the US and Iran are negotiating an interim peace deal.
They’re within the midst of a 60-day memorandum of understanding lately signed between Washington and Tehran, with either side agreeing to raise naval blockades and open the Strait of Hormuz to free passage whereas negotiators work in the direction of a longer-term deal on Iran’s nuclear programme and sanctions aid.
The Ever Beautiful had chosen a southern route alongside the Omani coast slightly than corridors designated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which hours earlier than the assault had issued a directive demanding all industrial vessels coordinate straight with the Iranian Navy.
The assault instantly halted International Maritime Organization (IMO) efforts to escort a whole bunch of stranded vessels out of the Gulf, the place greater than 11,000 seafarers have been trapped for months.
Iran earlier expressed anger at what it stated was an “interventionist, irresponsible and provocative” assertion by the US and 6 Gulf states that rejected its assertion that it might cost tolls on vessels transiting the strait.
Iran’s Deputy Overseas Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, defended Tehran’s place on Friday, writing on X that “secure passage by the Strait of Hormuz can’t be assured beneath ambiguous preparations, parallel routes or decision-making that doesn’t take Iran’s position as a coastal state under consideration.”
The IRGC denied US assertions {that a} direct communication line had been established between Tehran and Washington concerning the strait.
“This can be a full lie and we strongly deny it,” IRGC spokesperson Brigadier Common Hossein Mohebbi stated in a press release cited by Iran’s official information company IRNA. “The Strait of Hormuz is Iranian territory and has no connection to america,” he added.
Al Jazeera correspondent Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington on Friday, stated that Trump’s social media publish got here a number of hours after the assault, as a substitute of instantly after, as most of his responses to present occasions usually seem.
“It’s additionally, by Trump’s phrases, a considerably subdued message,” Hanna stated in regards to the Fact Social publish. “Usually, there may be way more anger concerned. However it’s on the similar time a reasonably sturdy warning from the president in regards to the risks of violating the ceasefire settlement.”
