US President Donald Trump, stated this April 19 that the US Navy attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that attempted to pass through the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship called Touska, nearly 900 feet long and weighing the same as an aircraft carrier, attempted to circumvent our naval blockade, and it didn’t go well,” Trump said in a message on Truth Social.
According to the president, the Iranian crew “refused to listen”, Therefore, the ship was attacked in the waters of the Gulf of Oman and is currently “in the custody” of the US Navy.
The vessel has sanctions from the United States Treasury “for its previous history of illegal activities.”
The information was also confirmed by the Central Command of the United States Armed Forces (Centcom).in charge of Army operations in the Middle East, which stated in a statement that they issued “repeated warnings” for six hours, after which the American destroyer ordered the cargo ship’s machinery area to be evacuated and fired several shots to disable its propulsion.
Furthermore, he indicated that The ship was heading to the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas at the time of the attack.
“Since the start of the blockade, US forces have ordered 25 commercial vessels to turn around or return to an Iranian port,” Centcom said.
The Strait of Hormuz, a key artery through which 20% of the world’s crude oil transited, It remains blocked fifty days after the start of the US and Israeli attacks against Iran.
Iran regained “strict control” of Hormuz on Saturday, just a day after announcing its reopening, and in the last hours the Revolutionary Guard forced two oil tankers with the flags of Botswana and Angola to turn back.
In parallel to the Iranian blockade, the United States implements a naval siege directed specifically against Tehran to prevent the export and import of supplies.