The U.S. Navy disabled an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman late Tuesday night, shortly after carrying out retaliatory strikes in Iran for shooting down an Army Apache helicopter.The crew aboard the Palau-flagged M/T Settebello repeatedly failed to comply with American forces’ orders. U.S. troops ultimately fired precision munitions into the ship’s engine room to disable the vessel.This is the eighth time since the Navy began its counterblockade of Iranian ports in mid-April, and it has redirected more than 130 vessels that complied with its orders. It came a day after the Navy disabled the M/T Marivex as it transited international waters in the Gulf of Oman toward Iran.
U.S. troops on Tuesday also carried out multiple waves of strikes targeting Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz.
“We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re going to hit them hard again today, in case you miss it, in case you don’t turn on your television set,” President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Trump also claimed the United States has been “taking out millions of barrels of oil,” unbeknownst to Iran, adding, “We took out the other night 22 ships late at night with no lights because they don’t have any radar.”
