US forces intercepted and seized an Iranian cargo vessel in the Arabian Sea on Sunday after its crew refused to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, US Central Command confirmed in a statement.
The ship, identified as theM/V Touska, was heading toward the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas when the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance moved to intercept it. The vessel is now in US custody, with Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit currently on board.
"Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room," the statement read. "Spruance disabled Touska's propulsion by firing several rounds from the destroyer's 5-inch MK 45 Gun into Touska's engine room."
Once the ship was immobilized, US Marines boarded the vessel. CENTCOM described the operation as carried out in a "deliberate, professional, and proportional manner."
The military also noted that since the blockade began, US forces have turned around or redirected a total of 25 commercial vessels attempting to reach Iranian ports.
"Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them," Trump wrote. He confirmed that the USS Spruance had intercepted the vessel in the Gulf of Oman, that the crew had refused warnings, and that Navy forces had "blew a hole in the engine room" to stop it.
Trump added that the Touska is currently under US Treasury sanctions due to what he described as a prior history of illegal activity. "We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what's on board!" he wrote.
Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
