The United States Army Central Command reported this Tuesday that its forces deployed in the Gulf of Oman have "disabled" an unloaded oil tanker flying the flag of Botswana that was attempting to head for the Iranian island of Khark, thus defying the blockade decreed by Washington in the Strait of Hormuz.
"CENTCOM applied blockade measures against the 'M/T Lexie, flagged in Botswana, as it transited international waters towards the island of Khark. The ship's crew ignored repeated warnings and failed to comply with US forces' instructions on multiple occasions over a 24-hour period," it detailed in a statement.
According to the US Army itself, a military aircraft finally managed to disable the vessel "by firing a Hellfire missile at the engine room, which prevented the oil tanker from reaching Iran," before emphasizing that, since the blockade came into effect on April 13, they have already "disabled" six ships and forced 122 others to divert.