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The US military says one of its helicopters has fired missiles to disable “the steering gear” of a cargo ship attempting to violate the US blockade of Iranian ports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement, US Central Command (Centcom) says its MH-60 aircraft on Tuesday fired two hellfire missiles into the engine room of the Panama-flagged M\/V Vela Nova vessel, as it attempted to transit the Gulf of Oman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Centcom said it acted after “the ship’s civilian crew ignored repeated warnings from American forces”. The vessel “is no longer transiting to Iran”, it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran has not commented. The US has been enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports, following failed attempts to end the war it and Israel started on 28 February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tehran retaliated by launching attacks on Israel and US-allied states across the Gulf. It has also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz – a key oil shipping waterway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas used to transit the strait before the war and prices have fluctuated wildly since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mediators have so far failed to bring the sides to an agreement on reopening the strait – and, since the latest ceasefire collapsed in June, both the US and Iran have exchanged fire intermittently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its statement on X, Centcom said M\/V Vela attempted to sail to an Iranian port without naming it. It also did not say whether there were any casualties or injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It says the US blockade “remains in full effect”, adding that as of 11 August Centcom has “redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade, disabled 3 non-compliant vessels, and boarded 2”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n