Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked a trio of ships in the Strait of Hormuz, escorting two of them to Iranian waters, people familiar with the fighting said. The attacks came despite the continued U.S. blockade and President Trump’s indefinite extension of a cease-fire, bringing the conflict into a crippling limbo that leaves the strait closed and the prospect of escalation looming. 

The Journal’s Costas Paris and Benoit Faucon explain what we know about each of the ships:

• The Francesca, a containership owned by Mediterranean Shipping Co., came under attack while waiting to cross into the Gulf of Oman and was escorted to Iranian waters, one of the people said. A damage assessment wasn’t immediately available.
• The Greek-owned Epaminondas is a Liberian-flagged cargo ship chartered by MSC that sustained heavy damage to its bridge, according to U.K. Maritime Trade Operations. It said the ship’s master reported that it hadn’t had radio contact with the attackers before the incident. It was escorted to Iranian waters.
• The containership Euphoria was attacked just off the Iranian coast in the Strait, one of the people said. The IRGC said the vessel was now “stranded in Iranian waters.” The UKMTO said a vessel was stopped in the water after an attack with no damage or injuries to its crew.

Meanwhile, the U.S.’s interception of the sanctioned tanker M/T Tifani in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday–along with the U.S. blockade–is part of a forceful effort to thwart a secretive oil trade that has largely thrived after nearly two months of war, the WSJ’s Austin Ramzy and Rebecca Feng write.

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired John Phelan as Navy secretary after months of tension, with Navy veteran Hung Cao becoming the acting secretary. (WSJ)

Concerns are growing about the slow pace of talks between Ottawa and Washington over the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade treaty, which faces a formal, U.S.-led review this summer.

The Journal’s Paul Vieira writes that while discussions between the U.S. and Mexico are at an advanced stage, U.S. officials describe talks with Canada as challenging, with unresolved issues. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer reiterated those concerns in testimony to Congress on Wednesday.

Ottawa’s minister in charge of U.S.-Canada trade said the Trump administration must provide relief on sectoral tariffs of up to 50% affecting automobiles, steel and aluminum as part of any deal with Canada on extending the current North American trade pact, known as the USMCA. A move toward tariff relief could open the door for certain U.S. demands, such as provinces dropping their ban on U.S. wines and spirits.

• Trade Representative Greer said the U.S. might have to take unspecified enforcement actions against Canada over provinces’ boycotts of American wine and spirits. (Bloomberg)

CSX raised its sales outlook for the year, as more businesses choose rail to save on fuel costs in the wake of the Iran war. The railroad giant also posted higher quarterly profit and revenue, driven by higher merchandise pricing, intermodal volume growth, and increased fuel-surcharge and domestic coal revenue, partly offset by lower export coal sales. (WSJ

• Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings swung to a net loss, but the trucking company’s CEO said the challenges were transitory, with weather disruptions exposing market tightness that accelerated pricing, and with the fuel-price spike adding a headwind to truckload capacity.
• Tesla posted higher revenue and earnings, and surprised Wall Street with positive free cash flow, with net income growing 17% despite a decline in revenue from its energy-storage business. (WSJ)
• GE Vernova lifted its outlook for the year as demand for power and grid equipment needed to support AI data centers surges. (WSJ)
• Boeing’s first-quarter sales rose 14% to $22.2 billion, helped by its recovering passenger-jet business and growth in its defense and space segment. (WSJ)
• Masco posted higher quarterly profit on “favorable pricing” and sales growth in plumbing products, even as the stagnant housing market pressured new construction and remodeling activity. (Barron’s)

• Japan’s exports climbed 11.7% in March from a year earlier, extending a streak of gains to a seventh straight month, and imports also continued to rise. (WSJ)
• Eurozone consumer sentiment fell to minus 20.6 in April, its lowest level since December 2022, amid soaring energy prices from the Iran war. (WSJ)
• Widespread labor protests have erupted in India, fueled by economic pain from the war in Iran, cooking gas shortages and stagnant wages. (WSJ)
• U.K. inflation rose to 3.3% in March from 3.0% in February, driven by higher energy prices due to the Iran war. (WSJ)
• Two people were killed and more than 20 evaluated for injuries in a chemical release at a West Virginia plant, local officials said Wednesday. (WSJ)
• Google has developed a new processor customized for querying AI models, a type of computing known as inference which is booming as businesses embrace AI agents. (WSJ)
• Orivium, a startup that aims to extract copper from mining waste and hard-to-process ores, is looking to raise $20 million to develop technology to unlock critical minerals. (WSJ)
• Tesla supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology, known as CATL, unveiled its Shenxing 3 battery, charging 10% to 98% in 6.5 minutes, surpassing rival BYD’s technology. (WSJ)
• Searchers recovered the body of one of six crew members missing after the dry cargo ship Mariana overturned in a typhoon in the Pacific Ocean last week. (USA Today)

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.