Ship attacked near Strait of Hormuz as Iran reviews US response to latest proposal

A cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz said it was attacked by multiple small craft the British militarys United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre reported on Sunday the latest in at least two dozen attacks in and around the strait since the Iran war began Meanwhile Tehran said it was reviewing the US response to its latest proposal on ending the war but made clear these were not nuclear negotiationsAll crew on the unidentified northbound cargo ship were safe after the attack off Sirik Iran east of the strait the British monitor said Iranian officials have asserted that they control the strait and that ships not affiliated with the United States or Israel can pass if they pay a toll challenging the freedom of navigation guaranteed by international lawIran denied an attack the semiofficial Iranian outlets Fars and Tabnak reported and said a passing ship had been stopped for a documents check as part of monitoring The monitor said it was the first reported attack in the area since April 22 Tehran has effectively closed the strait by attacking and threatening ships and the threat level in the area remains criticalIranian patrol boats some powered only by twin outboard motors are small nimble and hard to detect US President Donald Trump last month ordered the US military to shoot and kill small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the strait The fragile threeweek ceasefire appears to be holding though Trump on Saturday told journalists that further strikes remained a possibilityIran reviews US response to its latest proposalTehran is reviewing the US response to its latest proposal Irans judiciary Mizan news agency cited Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying But at this stage we have no nuclear negotiations Baghaei said Irans nuclear program and enriched uranium have long been the central issue in tensions with the US but Tehran would rather address it laterIrans proposal wants other issues resolved within 30 days and aims to end the war rather than extend the ceasefire according to Irans statelinked media Trump on Saturday said he was reviewing the proposal but expressed doubt it would lead to a deal adding on social media that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done in the nearly 50 years since the Islamic Revolution thereIrans 14point proposal calls for the US lifting sanctions on Iran ending the US naval blockade of Iranian ports withdrawing forces from the region and ceasing all hostilities including Israels operations in Lebanon according to the semiofficial Nour News and Tasnim agencies which have close ties to Irans security organisationsIran sent its proposal via Pakistan which hosted facetoface talks last month between Iran and the United States Pakistans prime minister foreign minister and army chief continue to encourage the US and Iran to speak directly according to two officials in Pakistan who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the mediaAlso on Sunday Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with his counterpart in Oman which oversaw previous rounds of talks before the war and in Brazil and SpainIran stands firm on Strait of HormuzTrump has offered a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf where about a fifth of the worlds trade in oil and natural gas typically passes along with fertiliser badly needed by farmers around the world Irans grip on the strait imposed after the US and Israel launched the war on Feb 28 has shaken global marketsThe British military monitor on Sunday said it had received reports that ships near Ras alKhaimah the northernmost emirate in the United Arab Emirates and close to the strait have received radio warnings to move from anchorages It was not clear who sent the VHF messagesTehran will not back down from our position on the Strait of Hormuz and it will not return to its prewar conditions Irans deputy parliament speaker Ali Nikzad said Sunday while visiting port facilities on strategic Larak Island The US has warned shipping companies they could face sanctions for paying Iran in any form including digital assets to transit the strait safelyMeanwhile the US naval blockade since April 13 is depriving Tehran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy The US Central Command on Sunday said 49 commercial ships have been told to turn backWe think that theyve gotten less than USD 13 million in tolls which is a pittance on their previous daily oil revenues US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Sunday He said Irans oil storage is rapidly filling up and theyre going to have to start shutting in wells which we think could be in the next weekIrans currency continues to tumbleOn Sunday the second day of Irans working week the rial weakened further against the US dollar In Tehrans Ferdowsi Street the capitals main currency exchange hub the dollar was trading at 1840000 rialsAnalysts say there is a strong possibility the currency will slip furtherThe rial was trading at 13 million to the dollar in December a record low at the time and triggered widespread protests over the worsening economy Markets in Tehran remain unstable with prices of some goods rising dailyAccording to reports in Iranian media several factories have not renewed contracts for workers after the Iranian new year in March and significant numbers have lost their jobs Yousef Pezeshkian the son and adviser of President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on Telegram that both the United States and Iran see themselves as the winner of the war and are unwilling to back downThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever