Iran cargo ship seized by US could become ‘spoils of war’ | CNN

The US made good on its threat to board and seize any vessel defying its blockade of Iran’s ports on Sunday, with footage released by the military showing a guided-missile destroyer firing on the Iran-linked M/V Touska, and once it was disabled, Marines rappelling from helicopters onto its deck. The incident comes after the Trump administration said it expected peace talks with Iran to resume this week in Islamabad, Pakistan. Iran has vowed to retaliate for the seizure of the merchant ship, and it has not yet officially committed to the talks. What happens now to the ship and its crew may depend on what it was carrying, experts told CNN. US Central Command (CENTCOM) says the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance warned the Touska repeatedly over a six-hour period, during which time the container ship was steaming in the Arabian Sea toward Bandar Abbas, Iran. According to MarineTraffic.com, the Touska’s last port of call was Port Klang, Malaysia, on April 12. Before that it had been going back and forth between the Chinese city of Zhuhai and various Iranian ports. The ship is owned by the Mosakhar Darya Shipping Co, which has an address in Tehran and is subject to sanctions, acc