The US military said it disabled a Panama-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman on Saturday after its crew tried to run the US naval blockade of Iran.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said a US military fighter jet struck the stern of the M/V Ocean Molica, also known as the Arika Sun, with a precision munition, according to Reuters.
CENTCOM said the strike fully disabled the ship's propulsion without harming the crew. It made the statement in a post on X dated 11 October.
Al Jazeera reported that CENTCOM said the crew "ignored repeated warnings and attempted to run the ongoing naval blockade against Iran". CENTCOM said the ship had previously left an Iranian port.
Reuters carried a CENTCOM handout video still showing smoke and fire on a cargo vessel. The strike took place on 10 October, according to the reports.
CENTCOM said US forces resumed the blockade on all vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports on 14 July. It said that in three months, four commercial vessels had been disabled and 135 ships had been forced to turn back, according to Ynetnews.
CENTCOM also said US forces had destroyed 10 tankers linked to what it called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' "shadow shipping network".
CENTCOM urged mariners in the Gulf of Oman and the approaches to the Strait of Hormuz to follow blockade warnings and notices to mariners, and to contact US naval forces.
No response from Iran had been reported. The ship's owner, its operator and Panama's flag registry had not commented in the reports reviewed, and the vessel's cargo and ownership could not be independently confirmed.
The Strait of Hormuz is a major energy shipping route. CENTCOM has previously given accounts of other incidents, including a statement on 5 September that it struck three oil tankers it said were linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, after the Guards fired on US warships, as reported by AFP.
Photo: United States. Central Intelligence Agency / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
