The United States military has stated that it carried out targeted strikes against a cargo vessel attempting to circumvent Iran’s maritime blockade of its ports in the Gulf of Oman, following a period of relative calm in the US-Israeli war with Iran, which began a 13-day escalation in July. This action follows a collapse of a recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran concerning the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement issued by Central Command (CENTCOM), the US Navy’s helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at the Panama-flagged cargo vessel, the *Panama-flagged Vela Nova*. The statement asserted that the vessel ‘attempted to transit the Gulf of Oman and violated the U.S. blockade against Iran by sailing toward an Iranian port’. The attack targeted the ship’s engine room and disabled its steering gear, according to CENTCOM, alleging that the crew ‘ignored repeated warnings from American forces’. No injuries were reported in the attack.
The attack was part of a broader US naval blockade of Iranian ports, which has been extended amid the recent return to conflict between Iran and the US and Israel, with Iran reasserting control over the Strait of Hormuz. Both conditions had been lifted as part of the June MoU, designed to restart negotiations on a more lasting peace and future sanctions on Iran and its nuclear program. Efforts to achieve a lasting agreement have largely failed, with Trump recently calling for reparations from Iran for ’50 years’ of damage. Tehran has previously requested reconstruction funding to be included in any deal, with the June MoU including a preliminary plan for a $300 billion fund.
The conflict has further complicated with recent attacks by the Yemeni Houthis on ships in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, another vital trade route through the region. Iran, meanwhile, has largely focused its diplomatic efforts on direct talks with Oman to determine new shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, an artery that carries 20% of global maritime fuel trade prior to the war launched by the US and Israel on February 28. The Strait of Hormuz has been crucial to the world’s oil supply.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi stated on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the United States changes its behavior and accepts Iran’s conditions. He maintained that any agreement with Oman would be ‘separate’ from the issue of the Strait’s closure.
Source: Al Jazeera
