Amid escalating tensions, the US is enhancing its naval blockade, reportedly preventing Iran from exporting over $25 billion in crude oil
The US military has disabled a commercial cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman after it allegedly tried to breach Washington’s blockade of Iran, while Tehran says two oil tankers were damaged by sea mines near the Strait of Hormuz, in a fresh escalation of tensions in the region.
The St Kitts-flagged cargo ship had visited an Iranian port before attempting to leave regional waters, the US Central Command (Centcom) said on Saturday.
According to Centcom, US forces directed the crew to abandon parts of the vessel before an American military aircraft fired precision munitions at its stern, disabling the ship.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had received a report of an incident involving a bulk carrier and military forces in the Gulf of Oman, about 18 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates.
The maritime security agency did not identify the military forces involved. It said the condition of the crew, the extent of any damage and the possibility of environmental impact were not known. Authorities were investigating the incident.
Separately, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said two oil tankers had struck mines near the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state television, citing the navy, reported that the vessels had entered an “unsafe” part of the strait with their navigation systems switched off. They suffered severe damage and came to a stop after hitting the mines, it said. The claims have not been independently verified.
The developments come amid heightened tensions around the strategic waterway, through which a significant share of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally passes.
Centcom said it was also setting up a task force to restrict Iran’s movement of advanced weapons and other sanctioned goods across its land borders and through the Caspian Sea. The initiative expands a months-long US naval blockade of Iran. Centcom estimated that the blockade had prevented Tehran from exporting more than $25bn worth of crude oil.