US fires Hellfire missiles at Panama-flagged cargo ship violating Iran blockade

Strike on the Vela Nova

A US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the engine room of the Panama-flagged cargo vessel Vela Nova on 11 August 2026, after its civilian crew ignored repeated warnings from American forces. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the strike disabled the ship's steering apparatus and stated that the vessel was no longer transiting to Iran in violation of the US blockade. The incident occurred in the Gulf of Oman, approximately 71 nautical miles (131 km) off the coast of Pakistan, while the ship was sailing westbound toward an Iranian port.

Maritime security firm Vanguard reported that the missile impact caused a fire that was subsequently extinguished. All 17 crew members were confirmed safe, with no injuries reported. A US official told The Wall Street Journal that the helicopter targeted the ship's rudder. The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) separately reported an incident in the Gulf of Oman involving a cargo vessel and military forces.

Blockade enforcement record

The strike on the Vela Nova is the third time US forces have used lethal force to enforce the blockade since it was reimposed on 14 July. As of 11 August, CENTCOM has redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade, disabled three non-compliant ships, and boarded two others.

Redirected55

Disabled3

Boarded2

Redirected

55 vessels

Disabled

3 vessels

Boarded

2 vessels

Data from the article text

“U.S. forces operating in the Middle East are highly vigilant, lethal, and ready.”

During the first blockade period, between mid-April and mid-June, US forces fired on nine ships and redirected more than 140 others. That blockade was lifted on 17 June when the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that included an immediate ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and the lifting of the naval blockade. The parties returned to confrontation and respective blockades without pursuing the negotiations envisioned in the memorandum for a definitive peace agreement within a two-month period.

Strait of Hormuz and oil markets

The Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil passed before the war, remains a central point of contention. Iran closed the waterway to maritime traffic shortly after the US and Israel began striking the country on 28 February, disrupting global oil and gas supplies. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, has risen more than 20 percent since the war began and settled 1.4 percent higher on Tuesday at $88.91 a barrel.

Mohsen Rezaei, the newly appointed secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on Tuesday that the strait would remain closed unless the US changed its behaviour and accepted Tehran's conditions, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Iranian diplomats said last week they were close to the final stages of a deal with Oman to manage the waterway.

Political pressure and past casualties

President Donald Trump, who originally threatened that ships sailing from Iranian ports would face "the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea," faces domestic pressure over rising fuel prices less than three months before midterm elections. Three Indian sailors were killed in June when US forces struck a Palau-flagged ship accused of violating the blockade, marking the first confirmed fatalities from US enforcement operations aimed at curtailing Iran's oil export revenues and pressuring Tehran toward a peace deal.