The United States disabled an empty oil tanker attempting to reach an Iranian port on Tuesday, firing a missile into the ship’s engine after the crew failed to comply with directions in the Persian Gulf.
According to US Central Command (CENTCOM), American forces issued repeated warnings to the crew of the Botswana-flagged vessel over the course of 24 hours as it sailed towards Iran’s Kharg Island.
To stop the tanker from reaching Iran, a US aircraft fired a missile into the vessel’s engine room, disabling it.
In a statement on X/Twitter, CENTCOM asserted that this is the sixth commercial vessel disabled by US forces since the blockade of Iranian ports along the Strait of Hormuz went into effect on April 13.
CENTCOM enforces US blockade on Strait of Hormuz
On Friday, CENTCOM took similar measures against a Gambia-flagged vessel in the Gulf of Oman attempting to reach an Iranian port.
In that incident, over 20 warnings were issued to the vessel’s crew before the ship was disabled with a Hellfire missile.
CENTCOM has also recently struck Iranian targets located along the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for Iran’s downing of a US drone over international waters.
On Monday, CENTCOM announced that it had struck Iranian radar sites and drone command and control sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island. In the same strikes, American forces also destroyed two one-way attack drones that posed a threat to vessels transiting nearby waters.