U.S. forces interdicted and boarded a vessel allegedly carrying Iranian oil overnight, the Department of War announced Thursday morning.
The stateless vessel M/T Majestic X was sailing in the Indian Ocean within the Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility when U.S. troops boarded it. The department released a video of the interdiction showing U.S. troops rappelling from helicopters to the deck of the vessel.
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“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” the Pentagon said. “International waters cannot be used as a shield by sanctioned actors. The Department of War will continue to deny illicit actors and their vessels freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.”
U.S. forces boarded a similar ship, the M/T Tifani, on Tuesday, as it was leaving the Persian Gulf area, and they disabled a cargo vessel, M/V Touska, as it transited the northern Arabian Sea toward an Iranian port.
The Trump administration has imposed a blockade of oil coming to or going from Iranian ports, and it includes cracking down on their shadow fleet of vessels that are designed to evade Western sanctions and legal requirements. They are trying to squeeze Iran’s economy, similar to how Iran’s threats to vessels transiting waterways nearby have had significant effects on the global economy and price of oil.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated such boarding operations were a possibility when he said last week that the military would “actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.”
Iran, for its part, recently fired at three vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, demonstrating the threat that they pose to any commercial vessel nearby.
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President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill” any Iranian boats laying naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” the president said.
The president recently announced that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement would be extended for an unspecified period, though one of the original requirements of the deal was Iran’s reopening of the strait.
