US Fighter Jet Strikes Cargo Ship in Gulf of Oman for “Running” Iran Blockade

The US military said on Saturday that a fighter jet disabled a Panama-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman after its crew ignored repeated warnings and tried to run Washington’s naval blockade of Iran.

“A US military fighter jet struck the stern of Panama-flagged M/V Ocean Molica (also known as the ‘Arika Sun’) with a precision munition, fully disabling the ship’s propulsion without harming the crew,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X.

It said the vessel was trying to transit regional waters after leaving an Iranian port. CENTCOM posted video it said showed the strike, and the vessel’s owner, crew nationality and destination have not been given.

HOW THE BLOCKADE WORKS

The blockade covers all maritime traffic entering or leaving Iranian ports. US forces warn commercial ships and turn back those that comply, and disable those that refuse, CENTCOM said.

The command said it resumed the blockade on July 14.

In its October 10 statement, CENTCOM said that over roughly three months of enforcement, four commercial vessels had been disabled and 135 ships turned around.

It also said US forces had destroyed 10 tankers linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ shadow shipping network.

CENTCOM told all mariners to heed its blockade warnings in the Gulf of Oman and the approaches to the Strait of Hormuz, the vital route for global energy supplies.

Crews should monitor Notice to Mariners broadcasts and contact US naval forces on bridge-to-bridge channel 16.

WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID

President Donald Trump described this approach in a speech at Sparrows Point, Maryland, last week. Calling the blockade a “wall of steel,” he said ships that try to run it are dealt with by hitting the cabin or the rudder if they carry oil, and by sinking them if they don’t.

“Nobody’s ever seen a blockade like that, with no ships, zero, getting in,” he said. The US has not said whether the Ocean Molica was carrying cargo.

Iran has said it controls much of the strait and that the closure stands, while CENTCOM has said traffic is flowing and that the US and its partners control it.

With inputs from ANI