UNITED NATIONS, April 22 -- Iran yesterday called on the United Nations to condemn the seizure by the US of an Iranian cargo ship, characterising the move as an act of piracy and a breach of a ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.

US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the US Navy had fired on and then taken control of the Touska cargo ship in the Sea of Oman.

Trump says the Iran-flagged vessel is subject to US sanctions.

"Such conduct bears the hallmarks of piracy in nature and amounts to a dangerous escalation that severely endangers the safety and security of vital shipping lanes," Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations, said yesterday in a letter addressed to the Security Council and the Secretar...