US Navy opens fire on Iranian cargo ship

The American military navy opened fire on an Iranian cargo ship trying to break the US blockades of Iranian ports and has taken control of it, Donald Trump claimed on his Truth Social network on Sunday.

On Sunday, April 19, in the evening, the American navy fired on an Iranian cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman and took control of it, Donald Trump announced on his Truth social network.

“An Iranian-flagged cargo ship, the Touska, nearly 275 meters long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, attempted to break our naval blockade,” wrote the President of the United States.

An American destroyer intercepted the cargo ship “in the Gulf of Oman and ordered it to stop,” but the crew refused to comply, so the warship immobilized it by firing at the engine room, and “the American Marines now have control of the ship,” according to Donald Trump.

Touska targeted by sanctions

The Touska is targeted by sanctions from the American Treasury, he stressed.

According to the latest data available from the Marine Traffic site, the container ship Touska, which departed from Malaysia on April 12, was, about six hours before Donald Trump’s announcement, approximately 45 km from the extreme south of the Iranian coasts, near the city of Chabahar.

According to the latest update published Saturday morning by the American army, since the start of the US-imposed blockade of Iranian ports on April 13, “23 ships have complied with the American forces’ orders to turn back.”

Iran had lifted its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade normally passes, but announced on Saturday that it would resume “strict control,” in response to the US decision to maintain its blockade of its ports.

In a previous message on Truth Social Sunday morning, Donald Trump accused Tehran of violating the ceasefire, which expires in three days, by launching attacks on Saturday in the Strait of Hormuz, targeting a French and a British ship, according to him.

A ship from CMA CGM “was fired upon yesterday (Saturday) in the Strait of Hormuz,” the French maritime transport group told AFP on Sunday.