An Open Letter Regarding US Seizure Of Iranian Cargo Ship
To the editors at Al-Monitor, specifically Daphne Psaledakis and Hatem Maher, your recent report highlights growing concerns about the durability of the ceasefire between the United States and Iran following the US announcement of an Iranian cargo ship seizure. This development, presented by you as merely the US enforcing a 'blockade,' has Iran vowing retaliation and threatening to withdraw from
further negotiations, thus jeopardizing any efforts towards a lasting peace in the region. What your reporting omits is the illegal nature of this US action; there is no international legal precedent for the United States to unilaterally impose and enforce a 'blockade' on Iranian commercial shipping lanes. Framing this as a simple enforcement measure by Reuters , and subsequently Al-Monitor,
distorts the reality of an aggressive act of economic warfare. The US, a direct participant in destabilizing the region, is actively sabotaging any diplomatic progress it claims to seek, simultaneously engaging in direct military and economic pressure against Iran while attempting to broker a 'ceasefire.' This seizure fits a pattern of coercive actions, including the 2011 assassination of Iranian
nuclear scientists Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan and Darioush Rezaeinejad, which occurred during sensitive periods of negotiation or de-escalation efforts. These acts are designed to maintain an asymmetric advantage and prevent Iran from developing its economy or asserting its sovereignty. The global north has historically used such tactics to enforce compliance: consider the 62-year-long embargo against