A U.S. military aircraft fired on a commercial cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman on Saturday, disabling it after the ship tried to leave the region following a stop at an Iranian port, U.S. Central Command said. The command identified the ship as the St. Kitts-flagged M/V Huda.
What Central Command says happened
The command said U.S. forces repeatedly warned the ship and told its civilian crew to move out of the targeted areas before an aircraft struck the stern. Reuters reported the account and reproduced the command’s statement. The command did not specify the port the Huda had visited in the statement quoted by Reuters. It gave no immediate details there about the crew’s condition or arrangements to tow the ship.
The wider blockade
U.S. forces have been enforcing restrictions on maritime traffic to and from Iranian ports for months. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations advisory announcing the restrictions in April said they covered Iranian ports and coastal areas along the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The Gulf of Oman lies east of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil shipments.
The Associated Press reported that the previous confirmed U.S. strike on a cargo vessel was nearly a month earlier, also in the Gulf of Oman. Saturday’s announcement concerned a named commercial vessel. The immediate questions are whether the crew is safe and how the disabled ship will be moved.