US military fires on cargo vessel it said sought to break Iran blockade

CENTCOM says helicopter fired at engine room of Panama-flagged Vela Nova as US-Iran diplomacy remains stalled.Published On 11 Aug 202611 Aug 2026The United States military has said it fired on a ship attempting to break its blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman.The attack on Tuesday comes amid a period of relative calm in the US-Israeli war with Iran, with attacks mostly paused since a 13-day escalation in July. That came after a ceasefire as part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the US and Iran in June appeared to collapse.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump took ‘secret flight’ from Turkiye to avoid Iran ‘threat’list 2 of 3Trump sends conflicting signals on Iran strategylist 3 of 3Iran, US set new conditions during Hormuz talks: What does this mean?end of listIn a statement, US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees the Middle East, said a Navy helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at the Panama-flagged Vela Nova cargo vessel.It said the vessel “attempted to transit the Gulf of Oman and violate the U.S. blockade against Iran by sailing toward an Iranian port”.The attack targeted the ship’s engine room and disabled its steering gear, CEN...