US military disables cargo ship in Gulf of Oman, CENTCOM says
US Central Command says an American aircraft disabled the St. Kitts-flagged cargo ship M/V Huda in the Gulf of Oman after its crew repeatedly tried to breach the US naval blockade of Iran.
US forces disabled a St. Kitts-flagged cargo ship, the M/V Huda, in the Gulf of Oman on 7 November after its civilian crew ignored repeated warnings and tried several times to violate the US naval blockade of Iran, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
According to CENTCOM, a US military aircraft fired precision munitions at the ship’s stern after American forces directed the crew to abandon the targeted spaces. The vessel had visited an Iranian port and was trying to leave regional waters. The statement gave no further details on the crew.
CENTCOM said that since July its enforcement of the blockade had led 147 commercial vessels to change course after complying, while five merchant ships that refused had been disabled. It added that US forces had previously destroyed 10 Iranian commercial oil tankers it described as part of a shadow network run by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and urged mariners near Iranian waters to heed blockade warnings.