A U.S. Navy helicopter fired missiles to disable the steering gear of a cargo ship that was attempting to violate the American blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman, U.S. Central Command (Centcom) reported.
The incident occurred Tuesday when an MH-60 aircraft launched two Hellfire missiles toward the engine room of the Panama-flagged vessel M/V Vela Nova. According to Centcom, the action was taken after the ship's civilian crew ignored repeated warnings from American forces.
The vessel is no longer transiting toward Iran, Centcom stated in a post on X. The U.S. military began blockading Iranian ports in April following unsuccessful attempts to resolve the U.S.-Iran war.
Centcom indicated that the M/V Vela attempted to sail to an unnamed Iranian port. The blockade remains in full effect, and as of August 11, Centcom has intercepted 55 commercial vessels attempting to breach it, disabled three non-compliant vessels, and boarded two others.
Iran has not yet commented on the incident.