President Trump said on Sunday that a US warship “blew a hole” in the engine room of an Iranian cargo ship that attempted to get past the US naval blockade of Iranian ports and claimed that US Marines now “have custody” of the vessel.
“Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them. The US Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
“The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom. Right now, US Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under US Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!” Trump added.
US Navy warships are enforcing the blockade around where the Gulf of Oman meets the Arabian Sea,the same area as the Touska’s last known position, according to ship-tracking data.
Earlier in the day, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that the “IRGC Navy rapid reaction forces responded to the shooting at an Iranian commercial ship by American terrorist forces around the Sea of Oman and forced the Americans to retreat and flee.” It’s unclear whether the Mehr report refers to the same incident, since it didn’t name the Iranian vessel.
The incident comes after Iran announced it was reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic following the declaration of a ceasefire in Lebanon, but Tehran quickly reversed the move because the US maintained its blockade of Iranian ports. Iran views the blockade as a violation of the ceasefire since a blockade is an act of war.
President Trump has been threatening major strikes on Iran if Tehran doesn’t agree to US demands for a deal, saying on Sunday that if there’s no agreement, the “whole country is getting blown up.”
