US Central Command said on Wednesday that its forces attacked and disabled an Iranian-flagged oil tanker, the M/T Hasna, in the Gulf of Oman, which it claimed was attempting to bypass the US blockade of Iranian ports.
CENTCOM said that after issuing warnings to the ship, a US Navy F/A-18 fighter jet launched from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln fired on the vessel using its 20 mm cannon to disable its rudder. The command said that the ship is “no longer transiting to Iran.”
The US attack comes a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that the US is engaged in a “defensive operation” against Iran and that US forces would only shoot if they were shot at first.
The attack also came after President Trump announced that the US military operation to “guide” commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, dubbed “Project Freedom,” was being paused after just two days.
The incident marks at least the second time the US military fired on a civilian ship in the Gulf of Oman while enforcing the blockade. Last month, the US struck the engine room of an Iranian cargo ship before boarding it and seizing it. Discussing the attack over the weekend, Trump said the US was acting “like pirates,” affirming Iran’s characterization of the US blockade as piracy.
During the short-lived “Project Freedom,” CENTCOM claimed it destroyed six Iranian “attack” boats, but Iran said no IRGC vessels were hit and that it found the US bombed two cargo boats and killed five civilians.
