CIREBON NEWS – United States (US) warships opened fire on an Iranian cargo ship en route from China to Bandar Abbas Port, Sunday 19 April 2026.
The Iranian-flagged Touska ship suffered damage to the engine room. US Marines then took control of the ship after checking what Touska was carrying.
Due to this incident, Tehran vowed to carry out a retaliatory attack. Iran also accused the US of violating the ceasefire after the attack on the Touska cargo ship.
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Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said American forces had seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that was trying to bypass his country’s naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz.
In a social media post on Sunday, Trump said the ship, named Touska, had been warned by a US Navy guided-missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman to stop, but “the crew refused to listen”.
Trump added that the US Navy “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room” and that US Marines had taken control of the ship, and were “looking at what’s inside”.
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US Central Command said the Touska was heading for Bandar Abbas Port in Iran and ignored several US warnings for six hours to evacuate the engine room.
On Monday morning, Iran’s top joint military command said the US had violated a ceasefire reached earlier this month by firing on an Iranian merchant ship sailing from China to Iran.
“We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately respond and retaliate against this armed hijacking by the US military,” said a spokesman for Khatam al-Anbiya.
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The development comes amid a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial point for shipping about a fifth of the world’s oil, amid threats from Iran and a US blockade of ships heading to and from Iranian ports.***
