RIYADH(RAHNUMA): The US military on Sunday said it had redirected 12 commercial vessels trying to run its blockade of Iranian ports.
In a post on X, the Central Military Command said US forces disabled two ships that refused to comply, and boarded two more “to ensure total compliance.”
Earlier on Saturday, US forces “completed a verification boarding aboard Comoros-flagged M/T Charminar in the Arabian Sea, and the tanker is now continuing its journey,” CENTCOM said.
It added that US forces disabled on July 24 the Mozambique-flagged M/T Lavine in the Gulf of Oman “after the crew attempted to violate the blockade multiple times and ignored repeated warnings. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, said Saturday that their forces stopped four ships attempting to transit the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“Four vessels that had intended to transit through the southern area of the Strait of Hormuz via an illegal and unsafe route were stopped over the past 24 hours after warning shots were fired by the IRGC Navy,” the IRGC said in a statement quoted by state television, adding that the ships had “altered course.”
The US blockade is aimed at ships on their way to or coming from Iran’s ports, while Iran’s military is targeting oil tankers using a route hugging the Omani coast to traverse the strait and avoiding the route designated as “legal” by Tehran.
