Iranian cargo vessel struck near Qeshm Island as Oman delays Tehran-Gulf talks

An Iranian cargo vessel was struck early Sunday off Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media said, and Tehran postponed a plan to brief neighboring countries on its contested efforts to manage shipping in the strait. The attack drew attention back to the strait after threats to shipping in the Red Sea intensified last week. Iran-backed Houthi rebels battling government forces in Yemen captured an island on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted the Qeshm governor as blaming a “terrorist enemy” for Sunday's attack, which it said killed one and wounded four. There was no immediate comment by the US military, which has struck Iranian-flagged vessels during its blockade of Iranian ports and faces a new threat from Iranian ballistic missiles launched at its warships. Qeshm Island, about 14 miles (22 kilometers) from the port city of Bandar Abbas, is key to Iran asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz. Hours before the attack, Iran’s government remained defiant. “Our people can’t be bullied into submission. Iran won’t surrender,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a social media post...