A US Navy fighter jet knocked out the rudder of an Iranian-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday using its 20 mm cannon, the American military said.
The incident is the second time that the Navy has used force to disable an Iranian commercial vessel since the Trump administration began its blockade of maritime traffic going in and out of Iranian ports last month.
US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said it observed the unladen tanker M/T Hasna as it transited international waters en route to an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.
The ship “failed to comply” with repeated US military warnings that it was sailing in violation of the blockade, CENTCOM said. A Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet that launched from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln fired several rounds from its 20 mm cannon gun into the Hasna’s rudder.
In addition to the missiles the jet carries on the wings, the Super Hornet is armed with an internal 20 mm M61A2 six-barrel rotary cannon.
CENTCOM said that it disabled the tanker, which is “no longer transiting to Iran.” It added that the blockade of Iran’s ports “remains in full effect.”
Last month, a Navy destroyer fired nine inert rounds from its 5-inch deck gun into the engine room of an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel trying to evade the blockade in the Arabian Sea. It marked a rare use of force by the Navy against a non-combat vessel.