A U.S. military aircraft fired on the cargo ship Huda in the Gulf of Oman on Saturday, disabling the vessel after it had visited an Iranian port, U.S. Central Command said. The ship sailed under the flag of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Central Command said the crew ignored repeated warnings and made several attempts to breach the U.S. naval blockade of Iran. The command said its forces told the crew to leave the areas they planned to target before the aircraft fired at the stern. The statement gave no casualty figures and did not say whether the ship was taken in tow.
Ship tracking records identify the Huda as a cargo vessel about 522 feet long. Its last position in the public tracking record was from Thursday, before the strike.
The Gulf of Oman lies east of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. Saturday’s action involved a commercial ship trying to leave the region, according to the command. It was separate from the U.S. strikes on an Iranian air defense site that President Donald Trump disclosed Friday.
For ship operators, the U.S. Maritime Administration lists active warnings for the area in its maritime advisory index. Its September advisory covers threats to commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. That advisory predates the strike on the Huda.
