US military fires on cargo vessel it said sought to break Iran blockade
The United States military has said it fired on a ship attempting to break its blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman. The attack on Tuesday comes amid a period of relative calm in the US-Israeli war with Iran, with attacks mostly paused since a 13-day escalation in July. That came after a […]
The United States military recently engaged in a military action involving a cargo vessel that sought to breach the US blockade on Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman. This incident transpired on Tuesday and occurs at a time when there is a lull in hostilities between the US and Iran following a 13-day military escalation in July. Prior to this, a ceasefire had been reached as part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two nations in June, which seemed to have unraveled.
According to a statement released by US Central Command (CENTCOM), which is responsible for overseeing military operations in the Middle East, a Navy helicopter launched two Hellfire missiles at the Panama-flagged Vela Nova cargo vessel. CENTCOM claimed that the vessel "attempted to transit the Gulf of Oman and violate the U.S. blockade against Iran by sailing toward an Iranian port."
The attack specifically targeted the ship's engine room and disabled its steering gear, alleging that the crew "ignored repeated warnings from American forces."
The CENTCOM statement did not provide any information regarding the injuries sustained by the crew members. CENTCOM announced that they had disabled 55 commercial vessels throughout their blockade on Iranian ports, disabled three "non-compliant vessels," and boarded two.
Written by urgent.news from The Island Sri Lanka's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
