U.S. forces disable St. Kitts-flagged ship in Gulf of Oman

U.S. Central Command said a U.S. military aircraft disabled the St. Kitts-flagged commercial vessel MV Huda in the Gulf of Oman on November 7, after the ship visited an Iranian port and attempted to leave. CENTCOM said the strike was part of enforcement of the U.S. naval blockade of Iran.

According to CENTCOM, the crew ignored repeated warnings and tried to violate the blockade. U.S. forces directed the civilian crew to leave the areas they planned to target before an aircraft fired precision munitions at the vessel’s stern, disabling it. The command said the ship could no longer continue its journey.

The accounts of the incident in the reports rely on CENTCOM’s description. They do not independently confirm the crew’s conduct or provide a separate account of the strike. CENTCOM’s statement identified the vessel as the MV Huda and said it was attempting to depart after visiting an Iranian port.

CENTCOM said that since July, U.S. forces had redirected 147 commercial vessels that complied with orders and disabled five merchant ships that refused to comply. Those figures describe the command’s cumulative enforcement actions; they do not establish that all of the vessels were stopped...