WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said on April 19 that a US destroyer ship fired on and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman that tried to evade a US naval blockade.
Mr Trump posted on Truth Social that after the Iranian vessel, Touska, ignored warnings to stop, the guided missile destroyer USS Spruance “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom.”
“Right now, US Marines have custody of the vessel,” the US president added, “and are seeing what’s on board!”
The incident comes with tensions high in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit for the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, which has been virtually closed since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran seven weeks ago.
Iran briefly reopened the strait on April 17 in recognition of an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire in Lebanon, but closed it again the following day in response to the US maintaining its blockade on ships traveling to and from Iranian ports.
Mr Trump said the Touska is under US Treasury sanctions “because of prior history of illegal activity.”
The Touska is listed on the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control website as an Iranian-flagged container under US sanctions.
According to the latest data available from the Marine Traffic website, about six hours before Mr Trump’s announcement the Touska was about 45km off the southern coast of Iran, near the city of Chabahar.
Another ship monitoring site, Tanker Tracker, said the Touska had sailed from Malaysia. AFP
