US says it fired on, disabled ship violating Iran port blockade

WASHINGTON: US forces on Tuesday fired a missile at a ship that was attempting to sail toward an Iranian port in violation of an American blockade, disabling the vessel, the US military said.

Washington has now forcibly halted six ships it said were attempting to violate the blockade, which has been in place since April 13.

The Botswana-flagged M/T Lexie — an unladen oil tanker — “ignored repeated warnings” over a 24-hour period, and an American warplane “ultimately disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room,” the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

The statement did not mention if the attack caused any casualties aboard the Lexie.

On Friday, the US military disabled a Gambia-flagged cargo vessel after it too failed to comply, CENTCOM said.

On May 8, US forces fired munitions down the smokestacks of two Iranian-flagged tankers to halt them, while a warplane disabled another Iranian-flagged ship on May 6 by firing its 20mm cannon at the vessel’s rudder.

And on April 19, an Iranian-flagged vessel attempted to violate the blockade and ignored multiple warnings from a US destroyer, CENTCOM said at the time.

The American warship eventually directed the ship’s crew to evacuate its engine room, which it then hit with multiple rounds from its five-inch gun.

Tehran’s forces effectively closed the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway — a key route for oil and gas shipments — after the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran on February 28.

The United States announced its blockade of Iranian ports after peace talks in Pakistan failed to achieve a breakthrough in April.