Kuala Lampur, April 23 -- Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, tightening its grip on the strategic waterway after US President Donald Trump called off attacks with no sign of peace talks restarting.

Trump maintained the US Navy blockade of Iran's trade by sea, and Iran's parliament speaker and top ‌negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said a full ceasefire only made sense if it was lifted. Reopening the strait was impossible with such a "flagrant breach of the ceasefire," Qalibaf said in a ​post on X.

"You did not achieve your goals through military aggression and you will not achieve them by bullying either. The only way is recognizing the Iranian people's rights," he said in his first response to Trump...