On Sunday, a U.S. Navy destroyer operating in the Arabian Sea warned an Iranian-flagged cargo ship to stop multiple times over six hours and then opened fire on the engine room of the ship, rendering it incapable of navigation, U.S. Central Command said in a statement on social media. Marines aboard a helicopter then airborne and seized the vessel.
This is the first time that a ship has tried to evade the US blockade since the US imposed a port blockade on Iran last week. The U.S. Central Command said that 25 ships previously intercepted by a naval fleet outside the Strait of Hormuz had all turned around and left after receiving a call from the U.S. military.
It was a different story on Sunday.
U.S. Central Command stated that the captain of the Iranian ship named "Touska" ignored multiple U.S. radio warnings to stop the ship. The guided missile destroyer "Spruance", one of more than a dozen naval warships responsible for carrying out the U.S. blockade mission, immediately asked the crew of the Touska to evacuate the engine room. The ship was heading to Bandar Abbas Port in Iran, and the Spruance used its MK 45 naval gun to fire several rounds at its propulsion system.
A U.S. military official said that a boarding and search team from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit launched a search of the ship and its cargo on Sunday, and that the ship is currently under U.S. control.
"The U.S. military took prudent, professional, and proportionate actions to ensure compliance with instructions," U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
After the search is completed, U.S. officials will decide what to do with the disabled vessel, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss details of the operation. Independent experts said on Sunday that one option would be to tow the damaged vessel to Oman.
The US military official said that the Tuska is one of "several suspicious ships" that US intelligence analysts have been continuously monitoring inside and outside the blockade in recent days.