The US military said it fired on a cargo ship accused of trying to break the blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman, according to a statement from US Central Command (CENTCOM).
The incident occurred on Tuesday, amid a relative lull in the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as attacks largely paused after a 13-day escalation in July. That period followed the apparent collapse of the ceasefire under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the US and Iran in June.
In a statement, CENTCOM said a naval helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Vela Nova. According to the command, the vessel "attempted to transit the Gulf of Oman and violate the US blockade on Iran while heading to an Iranian port."
The strike targeted the ship's engine room and damaged its steering system, CENTCOM said, accusing the crew of "ignoring repeated warnings from US forces."
The command did not say whether any crew members were wounded in the attack. In Tuesday's announcement, CENTCOM said US forces had disabled 55 commercial vessels during the blockade campaign on Iranian ports, neutralized three "non-compliant vessels," and approached two others.
The US re-imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports after fighting recently reignited, while Iran continues to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz. Both conditions had been lifted under the June MoU, which aimed to launch new negotiations for a more lasting peace, as well as the future of heavy sanctions on Iran and its nuclear program.
Efforts to return to the agreement have so far made little progress, as US President Donald Trump on Monday escalated pressure by calling on Iran to compensate for "50 years" of damages. Tehran had previously called for reconstruction funds to be included in any deal, with the June MoU including preliminary plans for a $300 billion reconstruction fund.
The conflict has been complicated further in the latest round of fighting by attacks from Houthi forces in Yemen on shipping in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, another critical trade route in the region.
For its part, Iran has focused much of its diplomatic efforts on direct talks with Oman to determine new shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that once carried 20% of the world's seaborne oil before the war launched by the US and Israel on February 28.
Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency on Tuesday quoted Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, as saying that the Strait of Hormuz "will not be opened until the US changes its behavior and accepts Iran's conditions." He stressed that any deal with Oman would be "separate" from the issue of closing the strait.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Iranian officials, in the latest effort to promote a broader reconciliation in the war.
