The US military has fired on and disabled a commercial cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman after its crew ignored orders to stop and attempted to break the blockade of Iran, US Central Command said, in the latest escalation of the maritime confrontation around the Strait of Hormuz.
An aircraft fired precision munitions at the St Kitts and Nevis-flagged commercial cargo vessel, identified by Central Command as the M/V Huda, disabling it after it attempted to break the blockade. The incident was reported by UK Maritime Trade Operations as involving a bulk carrier and military forces about 18 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan in the UAE.
The operation came as the United States tightens its blockade on Iran and Tehran simultaneously lifts limits on its missile programme. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said at least 11 ships had been attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz over the preceding week, with three sinking.
A blockade under pressure
The United States launched a dedicated task force to disrupt Iranian land-based supply routes, according to reports on Sunday, as Washington seeks to close off Tehran’s supply lines by land as well as by sea. The task force is part of a widening effort to enforce the blockade that has been in place since the war began in late February 2026.
Iran has said it wants more than “paper commitments” from the US before entering a new phase of talks, and has demanded the lifting of the US blockade and sanctions before it will reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Qatar, which is mediating between the two sides, said on Saturday that negotiations were continuing and rejected suggestions that they had failed.
The M/V Huda incident is distinct from the UAE’s rescue of 22 crew members from a burning cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman on the same day. The UAE authorities did not identify the rescued cargo ship as the Huda, and no verified information established any connection between the fire and the American operation.
Eight months of war at sea
The confrontation sits inside a war that, by the reporting of the Indian Express and Al Jazeera, began on 28 February 2026, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran, and that has now run for about eight months. The conflict has severely disrupted maritime traffic and driven up global fuel prices, with Brent crude topping $100 as tanker fires rattled markets.
US Central Command also offered up to $20 million late on 6 November for information on Iran’s nuclear programme. The State Department has issued a security warning covering 10 Middle Eastern countries, citing Houthi threats and Iranian efforts to target US officials, with flight cancellations and airspace closures possible.
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