Sri Lanka, April 20 -- The US says it has attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel it said had tried to evade its naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. Tehran's joint military command vowed to respond, throwing the fate of a fragile ceasefire into question days before it expires.

The ship was the first to be intercepted by the US Navy since it began blockading Iranian ports last week in response to Tehran's closure of the strategic waterway since the US-Israeli war on the country broke out on 28 February.

Iran called the armed boarding of the cargo vessel constituted a violation to the fragile truce and called it an act of piracy.

Trump on social media said a US Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman...