Iran says it’s mulling latest U.S. peace proposal, Trump says he’ll wait “a couple of days”

Twenty Iranian sailors whose ship was seized by U.S. forces near Singapore have returned to Iran, according to Iranian state media.

Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, said Thursday that the release of the 20 Iranian sailors was thanks to the “benevolent action of the esteemed government of Pakistan.”

In a post on X, he described the sailors’ situation as “precarious due to the seizure of their ship.” 

Iran’s IRNA news agency reported that their vessel was seized by U.S. forces, but neither Iran nor Pakistan have named the ship.

In a social media post last week, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar referred to 20 Iranian sailors and 11 Pakistanis returning home via Singapore, “who were aboard vessels seized in the high seas by the United States.”

The U.S. has, since early April, enforced a military blockade of Iranian ports and associated vessels, and it has seized several ships as part of that mission. 

Iran, meanwhile, has enforced its own de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, demanding any ship wishing to transit the vital waterway do so in coordination with its military – often for a hefty fee. 

In recent days, several oil tankers have passed through the contested waterway in coordination with the Iranian navy, according to Iran. South Korea confirmed that one of its tankers did transit the strait this week, in coordination with Iranian authorities.