Iran Fires on Three Ships in the Strait of Hormuz

Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and seized two of them on Wednesday, intensifying its assault on shipping in the key waterway a day after President Donald Trump said he had extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports.

Iranian media said the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was bringing the two ships to Iran after seizing them in the strait, through which 20 percent of all the world's oil passes in peacetime. The standoff over Iran's closure of the strait and the U.S. blockade raised doubts about when or if talks would resume to end the crisis.

The conflict has already sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of inflation, food and a wide array of other products. The longer the strait remains closed, the more severe and widespread the effects will be — and the longer it will take the economy to rebound.

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