US forces disable ship ‘attempting to run’ Iran blockade in Gulf of Oman

What the report says

US Central Command said American forces disabled a Panama-flagged commercial cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman after the ship allegedly ignored repeated warnings and tried to move through waters covered by an ongoing blockade on Iranian ports. According to CENTCOM, a US military fighter jet struck the stern of the M/V Ocean Molica, also identified as the Arika Sun, with a precision munition on Saturday, leaving the ship without propulsion but not injuring the crew.

The Al Jazeera report said the vessel had previously departed an Iranian port and was attempting to continue through regional waters when it was hit. CENTCOM also said its blockade enforcement resumed on July 14 and that, over three months, US forces had disabled four commercial vessels, turned back 135 others, and destroyed 10 tankers linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The article places the incident within a broader period of maritime tension tied to the US-Israel war on Iran and competing efforts by Tehran and Washington to control shipping routes near the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is a critical global energy corridor, and the report notes that roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed through it before the conflict began.

Al Jazeera also cited separate claims from Iran’s IRGC that it struck another vessel in the same region, while UK maritime authorities reported recent attacks on ships near the strait. Those incidents underline the heightened risks for commercial shipping in the Gulf area, though the causes and responsibility for some of the strikes remain under investigation.