US military says it disabled cargo vessel in Gulf of Oman

A US military aircraft fired on and disabled a commercial vessel that tried to break the US naval blockade of Iran on Saturday, US Central Command (Centcom) said. The St Kitts and Nevis-flagged cargo ship had visited an Iranian port and was trying to leave regional waters when a US plane fired precision munitions at its stern, after US forces ordered the crew to clear the targeted areas of the vessel, Centcom said. The US military also said on Saturday it was launching a task force to crack down on Iran’s movement of advanced weapons and other sanctioned material across its land borders and through the Caspian Sea, expanding on its months-long naval blockade. Centcom estimated that the blockade had prevented Iran from exporting more than $25bn worth of crude oil.