The U.S. military announced that 12 vessels attempted to violate the naval blockade on Iran, with two disabled. The update, reported by ynet, follows a similar announcement 45 minutes earlier in which one ship was disabled.
The U.S. military announced early Sunday that 12 vessels attempted to breach the naval blockade on Iran, with two disabled. The update, reported by ynet, comes about 45 minutes after a similar announcement at 00:40 Jerusalem time in which the military said one ship had been disabled. This marks a sharp escalation from earlier reports: overnight Saturday, initial reports indicated a single vessel had been disabled in the Gulf of Oman.
The desk's coverage of the incident began at 01:37 Jerusalem on Saturday, when Reuters reported that the U.S. military fired on and disabled a vessel attempting to breach the blockade in the Gulf of Oman. Shortly after, at the same timestamp, the Associated Press reported that the vessel had attempted to breach at least four times. The U.S. military then officially confirmed the disabling. Earlier today at 00:40 Jerusalem, the military reiterated its confirmation of the disabling of a single ship. The latest update now triples the number of attempted breaches and doubles the number of disabled vessels.
The naval blockade, enforced by the U.S. Navy and allied forces, has been a persistent focus of regional tensions. As The Zioneer reported on June 12, CENTCOM said it had interdicted 9 vessels and turned back 136 since the siege began. On July 15, CENTCOM reported diverting two ships since the renewal of the siege. On July 23, it reported 12 commercial vessels diverted and one disabled. The blockade is part of broader U.S. pressure on Iran, including a wave of strikes reported on July 17.
It remains unclear whether the two disabled ships tonight are part of the same group as the earlier incident, and no details have been provided on the origins, destinations, or locations of the 12 vessels. The military has not specified the method of disablement.
4 developments
- StrongCENTCOM: 12 commercial vessels diverted, 1 disabled in naval siege update
- StrongCENTCOM says it has interdicted 9 vessels and turned back 136 more since naval siege on Iran began
- StrongUS CENTCOM disables oil tanker for second consecutive day in Gulf of Oman
- DevelopingUS CENTCOM says it diverted two ships since renewal of naval siege
Source and signal
- Open-source intake