U.S. forces disabled a Gambia-flagged vessel in the Gulf of Oman with a Hellfire missile after its crew allegedly ignored more than 20 warnings while sailing toward an Iranian port, U.S. Central Command said Saturday.
CENTCOM said M/V Lian Star was transiting international waters toward an Iranian port on May 29 when U.S. forces warned the crew that the vessel was violating the U.S. blockade.
A U.S. aircraft fired a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room after the crew failed to comply, according to CENTCOM.
“The ship is no longer transiting to Iran,” CENTCOM said.
The Gambia-flagged bulk carrier remains adrift in the Gulf of Oman, and U.S. forces have not boarded it, a U.S. official with knowledge of the operation told the Associated Press.
CENTCOM said U.S. forces have disabled five commercial vessels and redirected 116 others while enforcing the blockade as a ceasefire with Iran remains in effect.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, President Donald Trump said in April that the Strait of Hormuz had reopened for commercial traffic while the U.S. blockade on Iranian ships and ports would remain in force.
The latest action also follows earlier U.S. blockade enforcement operations in the Gulf of Oman.
On May 8, CENTCOM said U.S. forces disabled M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda before the two Iranian-flagged oil tankers entered an Iranian port. CENTCOM said a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS George H.W. Bush disabled both vessels by firing precision munitions into their smokestacks.
CENTCOM also said U.S. forces disabled Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna on May 6 after the tanker allegedly attempted to sail toward an Iranian port. In that incident, an F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS Abraham Lincoln disabled the tanker’s rudder by firing several rounds from a 20mm cannon.
The blockade has remained one of the main pressure points in the Trump administration’s effort to force Iran back to negotiations.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Trump ordered the Navy blockade after talks in Pakistan failed to end the war with Iran. The Dallas Express also reported that U.S. officials later described the blockade as targeting vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports, rather than shutting down the Strait of Hormuz itself.
