US Central Command announced tonight (Saturday) that its forces enforced the naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman on Friday, disabling a Gambia-flagged vessel attempting to sail toward an Iranian port. The incident occurred as American forces work to enforce the naval blockade on Iran as part of efforts to maintain the ceasefire.
According to CENTCOM’s report, US forces identified the vessel, M/V Lian Star, as it passed through international waters toward an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman. Forces issued over 20 warnings to the ship, notifying it that it was violating the naval blockade imposed on Iran.
After the Lian Star’s crew failed to respond to the warnings, a US aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile at the ship’s engine room. As a result, the ship is no longer continuing toward Tehran. CENTCOM noted that US forces have disabled five commercial ships to date and turned away 116 others in enforcing the full blockade.