Iran fires on 3 ships in Hormuz as US blockade holds, talks stall

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — 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. The attacks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports. The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the strait, through which 20 percent of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime, with no end in sight. Iranian media said the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was bringing the two ships to Iran, marking a further escalation. The conflict has already sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of 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 bounce back. The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, nosed over $100 per barrel, marking a 35 percent increase from prewar levels, but stock markets still appear to be shrugg

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