A US military aircraft fired on and disabled a commercial cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman on 7 November after it attempted to breach the naval blockade of Iran, US Central Command said. Reporting carried by gCaptain, supplied by Reuters, attributed the account of the incident to the American military.
Central Command said the St Kitts-flagged vessel was trying to leave regional waters following a call at an Iranian port. According to the command, the ship’s civilian crew disregarded several warnings and made more than one attempt to violate the blockade before US forces used weapons against the vessel.
The aircraft struck the ship’s stern with precision munitions, Central Command said. It added that US forces had first instructed crew members to leave the areas selected for attack. The report did not identify the vessel by name or specify its cargo, and it provided no details of casualties or the ship’s subsequent condition beyond the military’s statement that it had been disabled.
The action follows months of US naval restrictions on Iran. In a separate announcement on the same Saturday, the military said it was establishing a task force to counter Tehran’s movement of advanced weapons and other sanctioned materials through routes beyond the waters covered by the blockade.
That initiative would address movements across Iran’s land borders and through the Caspian Sea, according to the report. Central Command also put the value of Iranian crude oil exports prevented by its naval blockade at more than $25 billion. The figure was presented as the command’s estimate, rather than an independently verified measure.
The developments come amid threats of further military escalation. US President Donald Trump has threatened another offensive against Iran, while Tehran has warned of wide-ranging retaliation against Gulf infrastructure, leaving countries across the region on edge, gCaptain reported.