US Efforts to End Iran War Stumble as Ship Seized Near UAE

US efforts to end the war with Iran were dealt a setback after a commercial vessel was apparently seized by unauthorized personnel near the United Arab Emirates, increasing uncertainty over control of the critical Strait of Hormuz. 

The ship, whose identity wasn’t immediately clear, was taken 38 nautical miles off the UAE coast and is now bound for the Islamic Republic, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said in a statement on Thursday. 

The incident came amid an apparent uptick in vessels transiting the strait, which usually handles about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply. Its effective closure since the US and Israel began bombing Iran in late February has upended energy markets and led to global supply shortages.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged China to persuade Iran to help reopen Hormuz, saying a protracted closure threatens the economies of countries that Beijing relies on for exports. 

“We made the argument to the Chinese — it’s in their interest to resolve this,” Rubio told Fox News on Air Force One as he traveled to China with President Donald Trump. “We’re hoping to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they are doing and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf.”

Rubio’s remarks signal the war in Iran is high on the agenda for talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the next two days. China is the Islamic Republic’s largest oil buyer and a key diplomatic partner, supplying Tehran with goods from consumer products to electronics. 

The US sees that relationship as an opportuninty to enlist Beijing’s help in reaching a deal with Iran to end the war, which has been locked in stalemate since a ceasefire was agreed just over a month ago.

Oil prices held steady on Thursday, with Brent crude trading at about $106 a barrel after falling 2% in the previous session. They’ve risen by nearly 50% since the war began, and the International Monetary Fund has warned of a broad slowdown in global growth.

The US-Iran ceasefire that’s been in place since April 8 has broadly held, though Trump described it this week as being on “massive life support.”

US Vice President JD Vance, who led a round of direct talks with Iran in Pakistan in April, said there’s been “progress” in negotiations with Tehran. 

“The president has set us off on the diplomatic pathway for now and that’s what I’m focused on,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Tehran continues to resist US demands to reopen Hormuz and says it will only do that if Washington ends a naval blockade on Iranian ports. It’s also insisting that the US unfreezes billions of dollars of Iranian assets and lifts sanctions.

Despite weeks of heavy US-Israeli bombardment, Iran’s military still has plenty of firepower. New US intelligence assessments show Iran has operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Hormuz strait and has retained roughly 70% of its prewar missile stockpile, according to a New York Times report, citing classified information.

Iran used missiles and drones to launch retaliatory attacks on Arab states across the Gulf, with the UAE bearing the brunt. 

The war is upending Middle Eastern geopolitics, with one significant shift being closer military and intelligence collaboration between the UAE and Israel. The two countries, which established diplomatic relations via the US-backed Abraham Accords during Trump’s first term, coordinated on airstrikes against Iran in early April, Bloomberg reported. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday that he made a secret visit to the UAE during the war, though the UAE denied the claim.

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