The US military fired Hellfire missiles at an oil tanker in the Arabian Gulf on July 15, 2026. The target was the M/T Belma, a Curacao-flagged vessel with a deadweight tonnage of 299,988 DWT, and the strike was precise enough to disable the ship without sinking it or triggering an environmental spill.
US Central Command confirmed the operation. The strike came just 24 hours after Washington reinstated a naval blockade specifically designed to choke off Iranian oil exports, which resumed at 4 p.m. ET on July 14, 2026.
What happened and how
CENTCOM targeted the M/T Belma’s smokestack, not its hull. The goal was to kill the ship’s propulsion, leaving the vessel dead in the water without puncturing its cargo tanks.
The M/T Belma had been flagged on sanctions watchlists, suggesting the vessel was already known to US authorities as a potential tool for moving Iranian crude in defiance of existing restrictions. The ship was operating near Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub.
