US opens fire on ship in Strait of Hormuz

 The US opened fire on a Panamanian-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz which attempted to enter Donald Trump’s blockade.

A US Navy helicopter fired two missiles at the engine room of the Vela Nova and disabled it, according to US Central Command (Centcom).

“The cargo vessel attempted to transit the Gulf of Oman and violate the US blockade against Iran by sailing toward an Iranian port,” Centcom said on Tuesday, adding that its crew ignored “repeated warnings”. 

A fire was reported on the vessel which was sailing near Pakistan’s coast with 17 crew members onboard. The US military did not say whether there were any casualties.

The US imposed a fresh blockade on Iranian ports in July in July to increase its economic stranglehold on Tehran in retaliation for Iran’s attacks on vessels trying to pass through the key global waterway.

The blockade was first imposed in mid-April before it was lifted in mid-June, with 60 days for negotiations, but talks stalled as fighting over the Strait has intensified and the blockade was reimplemented on July 13.

A US official told the Wall Street Journal that the ship appeared to be attempting to transfer its crew to another civilian vessel after the attack.

As of Tuesday, Centcom said it has “redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade, disabled 3 non-compliant vessels, and boarded 2.

US forces operating in the Middle East are highly vigilant, lethal, and ready.”

It would be the 12th vessel attacked by US forces since its blockade was announced in April and the third since the blockade was reimposed on July 14.

The first reported deaths from the American effort to constrict the Strait of Hormuz came in June, when three Indian sailors were killed in a US operation to enforce its blockade of Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal.