The U.S. military said Wednesday that an American Navy aircraft targeted and disabled the steering system of an oil tanker accused of attempting to bypass Washington’s blockade on Iranian ports, in the latest escalation tied to mounting tensions with Tehran.
It is the second time the U.S. military has fired on a ship it said was attempting to violate the blockade, which has been in place since April 13.
U.S. forces warned the Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna, which was unladen, that it was in violation of the blockade, but its crew "failed to comply," so a U.S. F/A-18 Super Hornet "disabled the tanker's rudder by firing several rounds from (its) 20mm cannon gun," Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X.
"Hasna is no longer transiting to Iran," CENTCOM said, adding: "The U.S. blockade against ships attempting to enter or depart Iranian ports remains in full effect."
On April 19, another Iranian-flagged ship, the M/V Touska, attempted to violate the blockade and ignored multiple warnings from a U.S. destroyer, CENTCOM said at the time.
