US military fired on

Washington (dpa) — The US military said on Saturday it fired on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman that was violating the US naval blockade by approaching an Iranian port.

The Gambia-flagged ship failed to comply with orders despite numerous warnings, the CENTCOM regional command said in a post on X, of the incident that occurred on Friday.

A US military aircraft fired a missile at the ship, rendering it unable to manoeuvre.

CENTCOM did not provide further details about the vessel, called M/V Lian Star, or whether anyone was injured in the attack.

Washington seeks to put additional pressure on Tehran through the blockade. which prevents ships from heading to or leaving Iranian ports, cutting off key oil export revenues.

Five merchant ships have been forcibly stopped since the blockade began and 116 forced to turn back, CENTCOM said.