VIDEO Images of the moment when masked and armed Iranian troops capture two ships in the Strait of Hormuz

Iranian forces seized two international ships in the Strait of Hormuz, citing “maritime violations,” according to The Guardian.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released a video on Thursday morning of the capture of the Panamanian-flagged MSC Francesca and the Liberian-flagged Epaminondas.

In footage released by Tehran, masked and armed Iranian troops can be seen storming the ships' decks.

The ships were forcibly escorted to the coast of Iran after they were accused of “trying to leave the strait secretly”, according to the Tasnim news agency and shipping companies.

It is the first time Iran has captured ships since the beginning of the conflict in late February.

At the White House, spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that Donald Trump does not consider the seizure of the two container ships to be a violation of the truce between the US and Iran, because “they were not American ships, they were not Israeli ships, they were two international ships.”