A US Navy destroyer was forced to withdraw from the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday after Iran threatened to strike the vessel within 30 minutes and warned that its continued advance would derail ongoing ceasefire negotiations in Islamabad.
According to Iran's Fars News Agency, the destroyer had departed Fujairah port in the UAE and was heading toward the strait when it was intercepted by Iranian armed forces.
Tehran's delegation, which is attending Pakistani-mediated trilateral talks in Islamabad, conveyed through Pakistani intermediaries that the vessel would be struck within 30 minutes if it did not halt, and that doing so would also directly impact the negotiations underway.
Fars highlighted that the coordinated military response and diplomatic warning prompted Washington to order the destroyer to stand down.
In a related development, an Iranian military official told Iranian state television that Axios had falsely reported that a US vessel had already transited the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to international shipping since February 28, when the United States and "Israel" launched their aggression on the Islamic Republic. Iran has since launched over 20 confirmed strikes on merchant vessels and laid sea mines along the traditional shipping route.
When a two-week ceasefire was announced on April 8, clearly encompassing Lebanon, Iran briefly allowed two tankers to transit. Hours later, as "Israel" resumed its aggression against Lebanon, Tehran halted all traffic again.
As of Saturday, over 600 vessels, including 325 tankers, remain stranded in the Gulf.
As direct US-Iran talks, the first face-to-face negotiations between the two sides since 1979, are underway in Islamabad on Saturday, Tasnim reported that the negotiations had entered a technical stage and could extend into Sunday, with both sides examining details on several outstanding issues.
The negotiations are taking place amid deep mistrust from Iranian negotiators toward Washington, with Tehran setting clear red lines, particularly the release of its frozen assets and a ceasefire across all fronts. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, stated that Tehran is “seriously prepared for all scenarios.”