Key facts
- Central Command said the vessel was St. Kitts-flagged and was disabled after its crew was directed to abandon targeted spaces.
- CENTCOM said enforcement actions since July have led US forces to redirect 147 commercial vessels that complied.
- CENTCOM said US forces disabled five merchant ships that refused to comply with the blockade.
- CENTCOM said it previously destroyed 10 Iranian commercial oil tankers it linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
- Central Command estimated the naval blockade has prevented Iran from exporting more than $25 billion in crude oil.
- The US military said it is launching a task force to target Iranian weapons and sanctioned material moving over land borders and the Caspian Sea.
A US military aircraft fired precision munitions at the stern of a St. Kitts-flagged cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman on November 7, disabling it after the ship tried to break the US naval blockade of Iran, US Central Command said. Central Command said the vessel had visited an Iranian port and tried to depart regional waters, and that US forces directed the crew to abandon targeted spaces before the strike.
In a separate public release, CENTCOM said the ship's civilian crew ignored repeated warnings and attempted to violate the blockade multiple times. It identified the vessel as the M/V Huda. Reuters did not name the ship.
CENTCOM said enforcement actions since July have led US forces to redirect 147 commercial vessels that complied and to disable five merchant ships that refused. It said US forces had previously destroyed 10 Iranian commercial oil tankers that it said were part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' multibillion-dollar shadow network.
Central Command estimated the blockade has prevented Iran from exporting more than $25 billion in crude oil. The US military also said it was launching a task force to crack down on Tehran's movement of advanced weapons and other sanctioned material over its land borders and through the Caspian Sea.
US President Donald Trump has been threatening a new offensive against Iran, while Tehran has threatened broad retaliation against Gulf infrastructure.