US military says it used missile fire to disable a third tanker trying to break its blockade on Iran

DUBAI: The US military’s Central Command said on Thursday that it struck an oil tanker in the waters just outside the Strait of Hormuz that was trying to break its blockade of Iranian ports.
The military said Hellfire missiles were launched at the ship in the Gulf of Oman late on Wednesday, after its crew failed to comply with US orders, adding that the vessel was one of “nine non-compliant vessels” it had disabled since the blockade took effect.
An accompanying video appeared to show an explosion after a strike on one of the ship’s compartments.
The Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker was the third vessel hit this week after two Palau-flagged ships were “disabled” earlier.
The US and Iran traded strikes for a second day, pushing the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war.
The American attack, which lasted into Thursday morning in Iran, appeared more intense and wider than the day before, but Tehran released little information on the extent of the damage.

An Indian official said a US attack on an oil tanker allegedly trying to violate Washington’s blockade on Iranian ports killed three Indian mariners, underscoring the danger to seafarers.
It was the third time this week that back-and-forth strikes have rattled the Middle East. The first involved attacks between Iran and Israel, followed by the two rounds of fire between the US and Iran, which hit countries in the region that host American bases.
The new exchange of fire came as efforts to negotiate an end to the war appeared stuck, with US President Donald Trump warning that Tehran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the US attacks had “effectively rendered the ceasefire ... meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.
Central to the negotiations is Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.
Iran announced Thursday that the strait was closed — but it was unclear what that meant since it has severely restricted traffic through the waterway since early in the war and only a trickle of ships have gotten through. The US military’s Central Command disputed the claim — and Trump said Wednesday that the US has undertaken a secret mission in recent weeks to sneak ships through the passage.
The two sides also remain at odds over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran insists is peaceful but which the US and Israel fear could be used to build an atomic weapon due to its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The US and Israel said a major reason they went to war on Feb. 28 was to ensure that Iran would never be able to do that.