A cargo ship was attacked by multiple small craft off the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday.
According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre, the unidentified ship was hit off the coast of Sirik, Iran.
All crew members are reported to be safe.
Although no group has claimed official responsibility for the attack, Iran has repeatedly warned that ships will be attacked if they don’t pay a toll for transiting the Strait.
Sunday’s attack is the first since 22 April.
Despite the destruction of Iran’s naval fleet, the Revolutionary Guard Corps still maintains a large number of small boats it uses to patrol the Strait.
At the end of last month, President Trump said he had instructed the US Navy to “shoot and kill” small boats if they threaten shipping.
On Sunday, Iran reiterated its position that the Strait, through which 20% of the world’s oil and gas exports pass in normal conditions, will remain under its control.
Iran “will not back down from our position on the Strait of Hormuz, and it will not return to its prewar conditions,” the nation’s deputy parliament speaker said.
On Saturday, President Trump said Iran hasn’t “paid a big enough price” yet and suggested hostilities could soon resume if a satisfactory peace offer isn’t made.
According to Iranian news outlets Tasnim and Fars, Iran has now sent the US a fresh proposal via mediators in Pakistan.
As he boarded Air Force One on Saturday, President Trump told reporters he would “let you know about it later.”
“They’re going to give me the exact wording now,” he added.
Earlier on Saturday, the President took to social media and wrote, “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years.”
President Trump rejected a previous Iranian proposal last week.
The President spoke to reporters on the White House lawn on Friday. He told them Iran’s offer fell well short of his expectations.
“They want to make a deal, but I’m not satisfied with it,” Trump said.
He added that Iran has offered terms he “can’t agree to.”
Part of the problem, President Trump explained, is that Iran’s leadership has been fractured by the war, and there are competing groups within what remains of Iran’s power structure, each with different aims and objectives.
“There’s tremendous discord — they’re having a tremendous problem getting along with each other,” Trump said.
“The leadership is very disjointed. It’s got two, three, maybe four groups… they all want to make a deal, but they’re all messed up.”
Iran has “made strides” during negotiations, he continued, but “I’m not sure they ever get there,” he continued, suggesting a deal could never be reached.
President Trump also said he had been briefed on Thursday about options to extend the military action if diplomacy fails.
“There are options. Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever, or do we want to try to make a deal? Those are the options.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, Iran’s updated proposal softened some of its earlier conditions, including the demand for an end to the US Navy’s blockade before negotiations begin, but it offered little in the way of concessions towards limiting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. President Trump has stated repeatedly that Iran will not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Instead, Iran wants to move ahead with negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while pushing nuclear talks to a later date.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told diplomats in Tehran “the ball is in the United States’ court to choose the path of diplomacy or the continuation of a confrontational approach.”
Iran is “prepared for both paths,” he added.
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