US disables cargo ship leaving Iran as it widens blockade to land routes

US forces have disabled a cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman that tried to leave the region after visiting an Iranian port, the first confirmed American strike on a merchant vessel in nearly a month.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which runs American military operations in the Middle East, announced late on Saturday, local time (about 5am AWST on Sunday), that a US military aircraft had fired precision munitions at the stern of the St Kitts-flagged M/V Huda. CENTCOM said the ship had ignored multiple warnings and that its crew had been told to leave the parts of the vessel that were targeted before it fired. No casualties have been reported, and the ship’s owner and crew have not been identified.

CENTCOM said US forces had redirected 147 commercial vessels that complied with the blockade since July and had now disabled five merchant ships that refused.

What is the blockade?

The United States has enforced a naval blockade on Iran for months in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries a large share of the world’s seaborne oil. Ships that call at Iranian ports are ordered to turn back; those that try to break through risk being disabled.

On Saturday, US time, CENTCOM announced Task Force Iron Gate, which it described as an extension of that blockade. The task force is meant to stop illegal shipments of military technology, and the money that pays for them, moving over land routes and across the Caspian Sea, which Iran borders to the north.

“The establishment of Task Force Iron Gate reinforces the success of our ironclad blockade against Iran at sea,” CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said. The task force has about 20 civilian and military staff and is based in Florida. CENTCOM did not say whether it would carry out military operations.

What has Iran said about its missiles?

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say they have lifted the self-imposed 2,000-kilometre limit on the range of their ballistic missiles. “That restriction has been lifted for us,” Guards spokesman General Hossein Mohebbi told a news conference in Tehran on Saturday, local time.

He would not say whether Iran has missiles that can fly further, saying only that Iran would demonstrate its capabilities in practice rather than talk about them. Iran is not known to have such missiles. US officials have said technology from Iran’s space program could be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.

A 2,000-kilometre reach from Iran already covers the whole Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, most of Egypt and parts of Greece and the Balkans. The statement followed a warning days earlier from Iran’s Supreme Leader that any threat from the United States or Israel would meet a response with no geographic limits.

What happened to shipping on Sunday?

UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), the British military’s shipping security agency, said a tanker caught fire about 8 nautical miles north-west of Khasab, on Oman’s Musandam peninsula at the mouth of the strait, at 7.20pm UTC on Saturday (3.20am AWST Sunday). Citing military authorities, it said the crew had been evacuated. The report reached UKMTO late, and the ship, its cargo and the cause of the fire have not been identified. UKMTO also reported a separate tanker struck by an “unknown projectile” on Saturday.

The UAE National Guard said it rescued 22 crew members, all of Arab nationalities, from a burning cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman on Sunday morning, local time. Emirati state media said all 22 were in stable condition. It has not been confirmed whether this is the same vessel UKMTO reported.

On Sunday afternoon, Gulf time, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said three tankers had caught fire in the strait after using an “illegal channel” outside Iran’s authorised routes. They did not name the ships or say what caused the fires, and the claim has not been independently confirmed. Iranian state media also reported explosions heard on Qeshm Island and elsewhere in southern Iran, with no damage reported.

What else happened on Saturday?

Iranian state media reported explosions on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday evening, local time, and residents reported blasts at the port of Jask on the Gulf of Oman coast. The cause was not confirmed, and the US military did not immediately comment.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy said two oil tankers had hit mines and caught fire in or near the strait after using routes it had not authorised, and warned ships working with the US military to stay out of prohibited areas. Maritime authorities have not confirmed the claim, one of several such reports from Iran this week.

On Friday, US time, Mr Trump confirmed what he called “minor” strikes on an Iranian air defence system on Qeshm Island, saying they took only minutes. They were the first US attacks since his Republican Party’s heavy losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections, which he has acknowledged were affected by the war. Mr Trump has said he is considering a wider wave of strikes on Iran now the midterms are over.

What about the US$20 million reward?

CENTCOM announced on Friday, US time, a reward of up to US$20 million (about A$29 million), with possible relocation, for information about Iran’s nuclear program, paid through the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program. It is seeking information about the program’s “facilities, equipment, and associated personnel”, including members of Iran’s scientific community.

The State Department pointed to Iran’s failure to meet its safeguards obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN body that inspects nuclear programs, which it said had cost the agency “continuity of knowledge” over Iran’s centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium.

The offer sits awkwardly beside the White House’s own account. Mr Trump has said repeatedly that US forces effectively obliterated Iran’s nuclear program during the war that began on 28 February, while saying he still has one or two targets to “take care” of, including Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran. Tehran denies it is a nuclear site.

What has Iran said?

Iran’s army said early on Saturday, local time, that it had destroyed a US drone over Qeshm, which state media identified as an MQ-9. The United States has not confirmed losing a drone. Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said Iran would keep the Strait of Hormuz closed until Washington accepted Tehran’s demands.

Where do peace efforts stand?

Mr Trump said on Friday there had been “a lot of progress” towards a deal with Iran, without giving details. Qatar, the chief mediator, has urged both sides to reach an agreement now, and its emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, spoke with Mr Trump by phone on Friday about lowering tensions. Iran is reviewing US proposals passed on by Qatar.

Why does it matter for Australia?

Every strike on shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz feeds into oil prices, insurance and freight costs, which flow through to petrol prices in Australia. A blockade that reaches onto land routes and the Caspian Sea also signals that Washington is tightening economic pressure on Iran even as talks continue.

VNN will keep following the blockade, the US-Iran talks and any response from Tehran.