By Frank Andrews
April 22, 2026 / 5:57 AM EDT
Two merchant vessels were fired upon early Wednesday in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre said, casting doubt on efforts to resume negotiations between the United States and Iran.
The Royal Navy-led UKMTO reported that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps gun boat fired on a container ship about 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman without issuing a radio warning. The vessel’s bridge sustained heavy damage but all crew members were reported safe.
Roughly three hours later, the UKMTO logged a second incident about 8 nautical miles west of Iran, where a cargo ship reported it had been fired upon and was “now stopped in the water.” The crew were described as safe and accounted for; the UKMTO did not identify who carried out that attack.
Ship-tracking information showed two container ships stopped off Iran’s coast near the strait early Wednesday: the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and the Greek-operated Epaminondas. The Financial Times cited sources identifying those vessels; the owning companies did not respond to requests for comment. Reuters reported a possible third ship hit by gunfire, but the UKMTO had not confirmed that to CBS News.
The incidents came a day after President Trump announced an extension of a fragile ceasefire with Iran to allow further negotiations. Trump said he granted the extension at Pakistan’s request, which hosted the first round of talks, and accused Iran’s divided leadership of slowing progress. He said U.S. forces would maintain a blockade and that the ceasefire would remain in place “until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded.”
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Tehran had not requested the extension. Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser to the speaker of Iran’s parliament, posted that the extension was meaningless and described the continued blockade as tantamount to bombardment that should be met with a military response, calling the U.S. move a ploy to buy time for a surprise strike.
The attacks also followed recent U.S. operations in the region over the weekend, during which U.S. forces fired on and seized an Iranian container ship and boarded an oil tanker linked to Iran’s oil trade in the Indian Ocean.
Joanne Stocker contributed to this report.