Illustrative image. (U.S. Central Command)
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on May 30 that its forces in the Gulf of Oman enforced “blockade measures” by disabling a Gambia-flagged maritime vessel attempting to sail toward an Iranian port a day earlier.
In a statement, the command said that its forces observed the vessel, Lian Star, transiting international waters toward an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman and issued more than 20 warnings while informing the vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade.
A U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room after Lian Star’s crew failed to comply, the command added, noting that the ship is no longer transiting to Iran.
According to CENTCOM, U.S. forces have disabled five commercial vessels and redirected 116 to fully enforce the blockade as a ceasefire with Iran remains in effect.
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the blockade on Iranian ports on April 12, four days after the ceasefire went into effect, in response to the Islamic Republic’s restriction on maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz — a checkpoint for around 20 percent of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
Iran has warned more than once in recent weeks that it would respond to such attacks by the U.S., and had hit back not just by attacking ships it deemed in violation of its measures in the waterway, but also by targeting U.S. warships. The Islamic Republic even renewed strikes on bases hosting U.S. forces in neighboring Gulf states.
In fact, the U.S. attack on Lian Star came just two days after an Iranian missile strike on Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, which hosts the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing of the U.S. Air Force. Five American contractors and active duty personnel were wounded, and two combat drones were hit, with at least one completely destroyed.
The escalation came as the Trump administration is reportedly weighing a possible agreement to extend the fragile ceasefire with Iran.
Trump held a roughly two-hour Situation Room meeting a day earlier but left without announcing a decision, despite hitting earlier that he was going to lift the blockade of Iranian ports.
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