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TRANSCRIPT
"Motor vessel Touska, motor vessel Touska. Vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We're prepared to subject you to disabling fire."
A warning from the United States Navy, to an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel, it says was trying to breach its blockade of Iranian ports.
Unit ed States Central Command says the M-V Touska was transiting the north Arabian Sea at 17 knots, en route to Bandar Abbas in Iran.
Central Command says Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period.
United States Navy destroyer, U-S-S Spruance, fired several rounds from a 5-inch MK 45 Gun, into Touska’s engine room.
U-S Marines then boarded the vessel.
The seizure of the Touska is the first such seizure, as part of a U-S naval blockade that began last week.
On Truth Social, U-S President Donald Trump said the ship tried to get past the naval blockade and it did not go well for them.
"The US Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop. The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room. Right now, US Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under US Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!"
Iran hasn't immediately commented on the incident.
Donald Rothwell is a Professor of International Law at the Australian National University College of Law.
He's told Al Jazeera he has concerns about where the Touska was seized.
"First of all we know that the United States has imposed a blockade on Iran that effectively means that all Iranian Ports are blockaded by the US military and that seeks to stop all vessels moving out of Iranian ports. This event occurred as you've said in the Gulf of Oman, it's outside of the Persian Gulf, it's not within the Strait of Hormuz. How close was this to the Iranian coast, there are reports the Touska was seeking to sail into an Iranian port but was this vessel within the Iranian territorial sea, for example? So location is absolutely critical here, to be able to confirm the legitimacy of the type of conduct the United States has taken out here."
He says relying on the argument the Touska was violating sanctions could be legal trickery on the part of the United States.
"We've increasingly discovered now over many months the United States is seeking to impose sanctions on all sorts of vessels and that was especially relevant during the Venuzelan crisis earlier in the year. Yes there are certainly Iranian flagged vessels that are subject to sanctions but if the United States is seeking to now justify this as a sanction enforcement operation as opposed to a measure associated with the blockade, well this would be an attempt by the United States to impose and enforce its sanctions in the Gulf of Oman but it also might be an attempt by the United States to say well we're not infringing the blockade, we're not infringing the ceasefire but rather we're upholding US law so there might be some legal trickery here by the United States to try to justify this sort of action."
Professor Rothwell says confidence in freedom of navigation in the area will only be restored once a peace deal is in place.
The incident comes as preparations continue for a second round of talks between the United States and Iran, in Rawalpindi, the garrison city near the capital Islamabad, in Pakistan.
President Trump said US negotiators were on the way to Pakistan.
But Iran's official news agency IRNA says the reports circulating about a second round of negotiations in Islamabad are false.
On Truth Social, Trump said:
"We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!"
The I-R-N-A having its say on X.
"US excessive demands, unreasonable and unrealistic expectations, frequent shifts in positions, continuous contradictions, and the so-called naval blockade which violates ceasefire understanding along with threatening rhetoric, have so far hindered progress in the negotiations.Under these conditions, the outlook for constructive talks remains bleak."
A fragile ceasefire remains in place, set to expire on Wednesday.
