A U.S. Navy destroyer engaged and seized an Iranian‑flagged cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump said. U.S. military video released by officials shows forces warning the ship’s crew to leave an engine room before rounds were fired; U.S. Marines then boarded and took the vessel into U.S. custody. The Pentagon said a naval blockade south of the strait has turned back more than two dozen ships.
Mr. Trump issued a stern warning to Iran, saying the regime’s critical infrastructure could be destroyed if it did not agree to a peace deal and declaring he would no longer be “nice.” The fragile, roughly two‑week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is set to expire this week, and both sides accused one another of violations over the weekend. Iran’s chief negotiator told state television the country hopes for a lasting peace but acknowledged that both parties remain far from a final agreement.
Pentagon officials said additional U.S. forces are en route to the region. More than 50,000 American troops are already stationed there. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is central to the blockade operations; the USS Gerald R. Ford recently transited the Suez Canal to rejoin activities, and the USS George H.W. Bush is expected to arrive later. Officials noted the Gerald R. Ford’s deployment now exceeds the previous record for the longest carrier deployment since the Vietnam War.
In a separate development, Israel and Lebanon entered a temporary pause in fighting after heavy losses on both sides. Lebanese authorities reported more than 2,200 dead and roughly a million people displaced; Israeli officials reported more than 30 fatalities in the latest round of fighting. Reporters in the region described residents as cautious during the relative calm, aware that the pause may not hold.