Iranian gunboat fires on container ship in Strait of Hormuz after Trump extends ceasefire – Live updates

An Iranian gunboat fired at a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz just hours after Donald Trump announced an extension to the US-Iran ceasefire.

‘The master of a container ship reported that the vessel was approached by one IRGC gunboat… that then fired upon the vessel, which has caused heavy damage to the bridge. No fires or environmental impact reported,’ the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said.

It added that the incident took place 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman and all the crew were safe.

According to British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech, the vessel was sailing under a Liberian flag and ‘had been informed it had permission to transit the Strait of Hormuz’.

But Iranian news agency Tasnim said the ship had ‘ignored warnings from Iran’s armed forces’.

Shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz has been heavily restricted by Iran since the start of the war with Israel and the United States, while the US military is enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump announced Wednesday that the truce between the two countries would be extended after it first took effect on April 8.

Britain’s annual inflation rate jumped to 3.3 percent in March as the Middle East war sent oil and gas prices surging, official data showed Wednesday.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) increased from 3.0 percent in the 12 months to February, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

‘Inflation climbed in March, largely due to increased fuel prices, which saw their largest increase for over three years,’ Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said in a statement.

Finance minister Rachel Reeves reiterated the Labour government’s opposition to a conflict that has increased the cost of living for millions of Britons.

‘This is not our war, but it is pushing up bills for families and businesses. That’s why it’s my number one priority to keep costs down,’ Reeves said in a statement.

At 3.3 percent, the latest UK inflation figure matches the March print for the United States. But the pace of the CPI increase in the world’s biggest economy was far sharper, having stood at 2.4 percent in February.

Britain’s inflation rate is also much larger than in the eurozone, where annual inflation rose to 2.6 percent in March from 1.9 percent in February.