U.S. military forces engaged an Iranian-flagged oil tanker on Wednesday, firing several rounds that disabled the vessel as it tried to make its way to an Iranian port in violation of a naval blockade, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command posted on X.
The ship was identified by the command as M/T Hasna. Central Command said the tanker was unladen at the time it attempted to transit toward an Iranian port and that U.S. forces moved to stop the vessel after its actions amounted to an attempt to breach the blockade.
The incident occurred in the Gulf of Oman, where U.S. forces have been carrying out enforcement of a blockade on Iranian ports, the post said. After rounds were fired, the M/T Hasna was disabled and ultimately prevented from reaching the destination it had been steering toward.
Central Command's announcement did not provide additional operational details beyond the identification of the tanker, its unladen status, the location of the action in the Gulf of Oman, and the assertion that the ship had sought to violate the blockade. The statement was disseminated via a post on X by the military command.
What is clear from the statement is that U.S. forces took kinetic action to stop a vessel they said was attempting to run a blockade. The command said the rounds fired disabled the tanker and stopped it from completing its voyage to an Iranian port.
The broader enforcement activity in the Gulf of Oman by U.S. forces is referenced in the post but the announcement does not elaborate on the size of the force, the specific units involved, or any follow-up measures taken after the tanker was disabled.
Contextual note - The military statement supplied the core facts of the engagement: the identification of the vessel as M/T Hasna, its unladen condition, the location in the Gulf of Oman, the U.S. assertion that the ship attempted to breach a blockade, and that rounds fired by U.S. forces disabled the tanker and prevented it from reaching its Iranian destination.