President Donald Trump announced Sunday the U.S. Navy fired upon and seized an Iranian-flagged vessel trying to run the American blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump announced a naval blockade of the maritime chokepoint in an April 12 Truth Social post, saying ships that paid an Iranian toll in either Chinese yuan or cryptocurrency would be intercepted by the U.S. Navy. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG-111) fired on the container ship Touska in the Gulf of Oman, “blowing a hole” in the vessel’s engine room, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them,” Trump announced. “The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop. The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom [sic].”
“Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel,” Trump continued. “The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!”
Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers have a five-inch gun, two triple 324 mm torpedo tubes and can carry a variety of surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, according to a U.S. Navy fact file. Trump did not specify how the Touska was halted, but United States Central Command (CENTCOM) provided details in a Sunday afternoon post on X.
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“Guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) intercepted M/V Touska as it transited the north Arabian Sea at 17 knots enroute to Bandar Abbas, Iran. American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade,” CENTCOM said. “After Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room. 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 from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit later boarded the non-compliant vessel, which remains in U.S. custody.”
The incident occured a day after two Iranian gunboats fired upon a British tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which the Iranian regime declared was under their “strict control” Saturday.
Iran declared it would allow passage of 12 ships per day that pay a $1 per barrel toll in either Chinese yuan or cryptocurrency on April 9, announcing it had laid mines while admitting to not knowing their exact locations. In his April 12 post, Trump said the U.S. Navy would remove the mines.
“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz. At some point, we will reach an ‘ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT’ basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, ‘There may be a mine out there somewhere,’ that nobody knows about but them,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted. I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.”
CENTCOM and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation about the incident. The Department of War referred the DCNF to the White House when reached for comment.
This breaking news story was updated with additional information.
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