U.S. Navy Fires on and Seizes Iranian-Flagged Cargo Ship in North Arabian Sea

The U.S. military said it used naval gunfire to disable and then seize an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that was trying to reach an Iranian port, marking the first widely reported physical seizure under the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports that began April 13.

U.S. Central Command said the incident happened April 19 in the north Arabian Sea and involved the M/V Touska, which U.S. authorities identified as an Iranian-flagged cargo and container ship. CENTCOM said the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance intercepted the vessel after its crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over six hours. “After Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room,” CENTCOM said. “Spruance disabled Touska’s propulsion by firing several rounds from the destroyer’s 5-inch MK 45 Gun into Touska’s engine room.” U.S. Marines then boarded the ship, and CENTCOM said it remains in U.S. custody.

No U.S. release cited in the available reports said there were U.S. casualties or fatalities among the Touska’s crew. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers U.S. sanctions programs, lists TOUSKA on its sanctions roster under IMO 9328900, supporting the U.S. government’s position that the vessel was already under U.S. sanctions. President Donald Trump also described the seizure in a social media post, saying U.S. Marines had custody of the ship.

The seizure is a notable escalation in a blockade the United States announced April 12 and began enforcing April 13 at 10 a.m. ET. In that announcement, CENTCOM said, “CENTCOM forces will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 a.m. ET.” The U.S. said at the time it would not impede transit through the Strait of Hormuz for ships bound for non-Iranian ports. CENTCOM now says that since the blockade began, U.S. forces have directed 25 commercial vessels to turn around or return to an Iranian port, underscoring how the Touska case appears to be the first public case under the current operation to involve disabling fire and seizure. Under the law of naval warfare, blockades must be declared and notified, and vessels attempting to breach them may be stopped or captured.

Iran sharply condemned the operation. Iranian state-linked media, citing the Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters, said the United States was “violating the ceasefire and committing maritime piracy” and warned Iran would “soon respond.” Those statements, carried by Iranian state media, framed the seizure as a breach of the truce now in place between Washington and Tehran.

The confrontation comes just days before the reported April 22 expiration of a Pakistan-brokered two-week truce between the United States and Iran. It also unfolded near waters linking the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping corridors. Recent reporting has said fears of disruption in that region have pushed oil prices higher, giving the seizure significance well beyond the two countries involved.