AGENCIES

Iran showcased its tightened grip over the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, releasing footage of commandos storming a large cargo ship and announcing its first proceeds from tolls imposed on vessels transiting the waterway.

With planned peace talks hanging in the balance, more fuel-hungry airlines cancelled flights, oil prices opened higher, and the keenly-watched S&P Global PMI index showed eurozone business activity shrinking for the first time in 16 months.

Iran vowed it will keep the strait closed to all but a trickle of approved vessels for as long as the United States blockades its ports, brushing off demands from President Donald Trump that it buckle to US threats and both reopen Hormuz and surrender its enriched uranium.

While strikes around the region have mostly ceased since the two-week-old truce began, there has been no letup in the stand-off over the crucial trade route, with both sides seeking economic leverage -- only for Trump to announce an indefinite ceasefire to create space for more Pakistani-mediated talks.

Iranian state television broadcast footage overnight of masked troops pulling up in a grey speedboat alongside the MSC Francesca, climbing a rope ladder to a shell door in the hull and jumping through, brandishing rifles.

The footage, presented with an action-movie-style soundtrack and no commentary, also included views of another ship, the Epaminondas. Iran said it had captured both on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to cross the strait without permits.

Washington, which has been confronting Iranian ships in Amid

SEE PAGE 2 COL 4