Ship owners and analysts say international shipping companies are avoiding the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian forces seized two container ships Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Iran attacked three cargo ships in the strait, capturing two, in a move that intensified its assault on shipping in the key waterway through which 20% of the world's traded oil passes in peacetime.

"The seizures make clear that even an 'open' Strait of Hormuz is not a safe Strait of Hormuz," Peter Sand, chief analyst at Oslo-based Xeneta, a shipping-intelligence firm, told the Journal.

"The seizures from both the IRGC and the U.S. amount to a weaponization of trade, with both sides recognizing the pain they can inflict by choking the Strait of Hormuz."

Kostas Karathanos, chief operating officer of Athens-based Gaslog Ltd., which has a liquefied natural gas carrier stuck in the Gulf of Oman, told the Journal that "after yesterday's events even the most daring will think twice before thinking to cross."

The U.S. military on Thursday seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, escalating a standoff with Iran a day after the IRGC took control of two vessels.

The War Department released video of U.S. forces on the deck of the oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean.

"We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate," a Pentagon statement said.

Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, which was earlier seized by U.S. forces. It was bound for Zhoushan, China.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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