US forces fire missile at ship attempting to breach Iran blockade

The US military said late on Saturday its forces stopped a merchant ship trying to break through its blockade of Iranian ports by firing a missile into its engine room.

According to the US Central Command, the Gambia-flagged cargo ship Lian Star ignored more than 20 warnings from US forces overnight as it tried to enter an Iranian port, the military said. Although the ship remained adrift in the Gulf of Oman, US forces have not boarded it, according to media reports.

The latest action comes after hostilities resumed this week, despite a fragile ceasefire which has held since 7 April, and as the world awaits news on whether a deal can be reached to end the war that the US and Israel launched on Iran on 28 February over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

With the latest action, the US military has stopped six ships trying to breach the blockade. with only one allowed to proceed. Another 116 ships have been redirected, the military said.

The US blockade was launched on 17 April in response to Iran effectively closing the strait after the war in the Middle East began.

Washington is seeking to limit Iran’s own shipments and further weaken its access to cash, creating more pain for its long-weakened economy.

Trump yet to decide on deal with Iran

Earlier, US President Donald Trump met with advisers on Friday but has yet to decide on whether to move ahead with a deal to extend the ceasefire and reopen the strait after a tentative agreement framework was finalised between both sides.

That agreement, according to US officials, will see the current ceasefire extended by 60 days, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and curtail Iran's nuclear programme with Tehran giving away a large percentage of its uranium deposits. Iran has said no deal has been finalised.

Meanwhile, commercial traffic has quietly continued to flow through the strait, despite Iran’s assertions that it must approve any transits, though at a much lower volume than before the war.

Any violation of these regulations will place the security of their passage at serious risk,” Iran’s joint military command said Saturday in a statement carried by state TV, warning that any military vessels trying to interfere with that would be targeted.

Tehran has even charged tolls for transit as high as $2 million, which experts have called a violation of a principle of international maritime trade: freedom of peaceful navigation.

On Saturday, Qatar’s deputy prime minister, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani, said that the Gulf nation opposes charging fees to transit, “but for certain times when they say they are going to use it for mine clearing or some usage of the fees for a temporary time, this is something that is negotiable, and it could be something that will help the transit of the Strait of Hormuz to be back to a normal stage.”

Events in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway between Iran and Oman, where some 20 percent of global shipping passes, have shaken the global economy.

Shipments of significant amounts of oil, natural gas and related supplies like fertiliser are largely stranded, increasing the strain on consumers and food producers.