US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that on Saturday, October 10, US forces disabled a commercial cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman that was attempting to break Iran’s blockade. According to the statement, no one on board was injured.
CENTCOM published the statement on X on Sunday (local time, the night between Saturday and Sunday), attaching a short video. According to the command, the ship’s crew “ignored multiple warnings” and tried to break through Iran’s ongoing naval blockade.
What is known about the vessel
Citing CENTCOM, Al Jazeera reports that a US fighter jet struck the stern of a Panama-flagged ship, M/V Ocean Molica, also known as Arika Sun, with a precision missile. The aim was to completely disable the ship’s propulsion “without harm to the crew.” According to the command, the vessel had earlier left an Iranian port and attempted to sail through the region’s waters. The footage was also made available in the Department of Defense’s video archive (DVIDS). It is 12 seconds long and dated October 10.
Based on the available statements, it is not known what the ship was carrying, what its further fate was, or whether the crew was taken off or remained on board. These are claims from the US side; no independent confirmation of the events has been presented. As of publication, no official reaction from Tehran or the ship’s operator has been found.
The blockade has been in place for months
CENTCOM’s archive of statements shows that the US has been enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports since at least April, when Marines seized the Iranian vessel M/V Touska, whose propulsion had earlier been disabled by the destroyer USS Spruance. In May, the command reported diverting 91 commercial ships. According to Al Jazeera, the blockade covering all vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports was reinstated on July 14, and since then four commercial vessels have been disabled. Separately, on September 5, CENTCOM said it had destroyed three oil tankers linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after Iran fired on US warships.
What it means
The incident shows that the US uses not only inspection and diversion but also strikes on propulsion against ships breaching the blockade. For shipowners and insurers, a voyage from Iranian ports through the Gulf of Oman carries a real risk of the vessel being disabled. The Gulf of Oman borders the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of global oil trade passes, so further incidents are often watched closely by fuel markets. Readers in Poland will feel any effect at most indirectly, through oil prices; the statements do not indicate any current disruption.
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