US forces disable Iranian-bound oil tanker with cannon fire

U.S. forces fired cannon-gun rounds at the rudder of an oil tanker heading toward an Iranian port on Wednesday, disabling the vessel, as a U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz continues.

CENTCOM stated that the M/T Hasna was transiting international waters “en route to an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.”

“American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade,” CENTCOM stated. “After Hasna’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings, U.S. forces disabled the tanker’s rudder by firing several rounds from the 20mm cannon gun of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet launched from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).”

The incident occurred one day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a White House press briefing that the blockade “is costing Iran as much as $500 million a day in lost revenue.”

He stated that “90% of total Iranian trade has been halted, causing permanent damage to Iran’s oil infrastructure as wells are forced to shut in.”