US efforts to end the war with Iran have been thwarted after a commercial vessel was apparently seized by unauthorized personnel near the United Arab Emirates, raising uncertainty over control of the critical Strait of Hormuz.
The ship, whose identity was not immediately clear, was taken 38 nautical miles off the coast of the UAE and is now heading to the Islamic Republic, Britain’s merchant marine operations said on Thursday.
The incident comes amid an apparent increase in vessels passing through the strait, which typically handles about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. Its effective shutdown since the US and Israel began bombing Iran in late February has rattled energy markets and led to global supply shortages.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on China to persuade Iran to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying a protracted closure threatens the economies of countries Beijing relies on for exports.
“We gave the argument to the Chinese — it’s in their interest to sort it out,” Rubio told Fox News on Air Force One while traveling to China with President Donald Trump. “We hope to persuade them to play a more active role in getting Iran to abandon what they are doing now and what they are trying to do in the Persian Gulf.”
Rubio’s remarks signal that the Iran war is on the agenda between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the next two days. China is the Islamic Republic’s biggest customer of oil and a key diplomatic partner, supplying Tehran with everything from consumer goods to electronics.
The US sees the relationship as an opportunity to ask Beijing for help in reaching an agreement with Iran to end a war that has been deadlocked since a ceasefire was agreed more than a month ago.
Oil prices were steady on Thursday, with Brent crude trading at around $106 a barrel after falling 2% in the previous session. They have risen nearly 50% since the start of the war, and the International Monetary Fund has warned of a broad slowdown in global growth.
The US-Iran ceasefire, which has been in place since April 8, is essentially in place, although Trump this week called it “massive life support”.
US Vice President JD Vance, who held a round of direct talks with Iran in Pakistan in April, said there had been “progress” in negotiations with Tehran.
“For now, the president has put us on a diplomatic path and that’s what I’m focusing on,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Tehran continues to resist US demands to reopen Hormuz, saying it will only do so if Washington ends its naval blockade of Iranian ports. It also insists that the US unfreeze billions of dollars worth of Iranian assets and lift sanctions.
Despite weeks of heavy US-Israeli bombing, the Iranian military still has plenty of firepower. New US intelligence assessments show Iran has operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz and has retained roughly 70% of its pre-war missile stockpile, according to a New York Times report citing classified information.
Iran has used missiles and drones to retaliate against Arab states across the Persian Gulf, with the UAE bearing the brunt.
The war threatens Middle East geopolitics, with one major shift being closer military and intelligence cooperation between the UAE and Israel. The two countries, which established diplomatic ties through the U.S.-backed Abraham Accords during Trump’s first term, coordinated airstrikes against Iran in early April, Bloomberg reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday that he had made a secret visit to the UAE during the war, although the UAE has denied the claim.
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