US Forces Fire Hellfire Missile to Disable Ship Trying to Break Its Blockade
30th May 2026
An American aircraft fired a Hellfire missile into a cargo ship’s engine room on Friday, disabling the vessel after it tried to break the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Central Command said on Saturday that the military took action against the Gambia-flagged M/V Lian Star after it tried sailing through the Gulf of Oman towards an Iranian port on May 29.
It’s the fifth time since early April that U.S. forces have directly fired on a ship to disable it as part of enforcing the blockade. The U.S. and Iran have maintained dual and competing blockades on the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for oil, gas and other important chemicals, for several weeks, and the status of transit through the strait has been a point of contention between the two countries.
American forces issued more than 20 warnings to the merchant ship, saying it was violating the blockade.
“A U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room after Lian Star’s crew failed to comply,” CENTCOM said in its statement. “The ship is no longer transiting to Iran.”
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape,
You walk onto the lawn,
You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
And you don’t mess around with Don….