May 7 (UPI) — The U.S. military enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports has opened fire on a crude oil tanker en route to Iran, according to U.S. Central Command.
An F/A-18 Super Hornet launched from the USS Abraham Lincoln fired multiple rounds from its 20mm cannon, striking the Iranian-flagged merchant tanker Hasna, and disabling its rudder, CENTCOM said in a statement.
“Hasna is no longer transiting to Iran,” it said.
CENTCOM said the vessel was repeatedly warned and was only fired upon after it failed to comply with U.S. orders.
The vessel was en route to an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.
The U.S. military said the tanker was in violation of the blockade it is enforcing against Iranian ports.
The blockade is part of the Trump administration’s economic and military pressure campaign against Tehran, which has restricted access to the shipping lanes of the Strait of Hormuz, causing gas prices to climb and threatening an energy crisis.
The attack came the same day as two other tankers reportedly broke through the U.S. blockade.
According to TankerTrakcers.com, two empty U.S.-sanctioned vessels, one of which routinely delivers Iranian liquefied petroleum gas to the Houthis in Yemen, managed to enter the perimeter of the U.S. blockade. The maritime intelligence firm identified the other vessel as a “larger oil tanker.”
At least one other Iranian vessel, a supertanker named HUGE carrying more than 1.9 million barrels of crude oil, has reportedly managed to evade the U.S. blockade.
The tanker had left an Iranian port and evaded the U.S. Navy, TankerTrackers reported on Sunday when it spotted the vessel transiting Indonesian waters.
The Wednesday attack came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump called off Project Freedom, the U.S. military operation to escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, citing progress made in negotiations with Iran.
Trump has repeatedly said that Iran wants to make a deal, while some Iranian officials have criticized reported U.S. proposals as unrealistic.
“We’re doing very well in Iran. It’s going very smoothly and we’ll see what happens. They want to make a deal. They want to negotiate,” Trump said at a White House press conference during a military Mother’s Day event with first lady Melania Trump on Wednesday.
He also praised the blockade, calling it “unbelievable.”
“Nobody goes through,” he said. “The Iranians, they’re not getting anything through, one way or the other. So they’re out of business and we’ll see whether or not they are agreeing and if they don’t agree, they’ll end up agreeing shortly thereafter.”
Ebrahim Rezaei, an Iranian lawmaker and spokesperson for Iran’s parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said online that a 14-point proposal the United States has presented Iran with is “more of an American wish list than a reality.”
“Americans will not gain anything in a war they are losing that they have not gained in face-to-face negotiations,” he said.
The United States has been at war with Iran since it and Israel attacked Tehran in late February before agreeing to a fragile cease-fire April 8.
CENTCOM said it has directed 52 vessels to turn around or return to port to comply with its blockade
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