American forces launched two Hellfire missiles at the Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel Vela Nova, which was heading to an Iranian port through the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. Central Command reported this, UNN writes.
Details
CENTCOM said that the vessel was attempting to violate the U.S. blockade of Iran, while its crew ignored repeated warnings from the U.S. military. After that, a U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two missiles at the vessel and disabled its steering system.
The vessel is no longer transiting to Iran in violation of the U.S. blockade, which remains fully in effect
The U.S. blockade has been in effect since July
The U.S. military reinstated the blockade of vessels heading to or departing from Iranian ports in July after the previous ceasefire between the United States and Iran collapsed.
According to CENTCOM, since then, U.S. forces have redirected 55 commercial vessels, disabled three vessels that failed to comply with their demands, and boarded two of them.
The incident involving Vela Nova likely corresponds to a report by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) that military forces had attacked a container ship in the Gulf of Oman. At the time of publication, the UKMTO report did not identify the vessel or the country whose military carried out the attack.