The United States military has disabled a Gambia-flagged cargo vessel after it repeatedly ignored warnings and attempted to enter an Iranian port in defiance of the American naval blockade. The ship, identified as the M/V Lian Star, was struck on May 29 by a Hellfire missile fired into its engine room by a US aircraft, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM). The vessel remained adrift in the Gulf of Oman — the body of water connecting the Strait of Hormuz to the broader Arabian Sea — and US forces had not boarded it as of Saturday. CENTCOM said the crew failed to comply after receiving more than 20 warnings.
The strike marks the sixth vessel disabled under the blockade that the US launched on April 17. A further 116 ships have been redirected away from Iranian ports, and one vessel was permitted to proceed. The blockade was imposed after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow 33-kilometre-wide waterway between Iran and Oman's Musandam Peninsula that serves as the only maritime exit from the Persian Gulf. Iran closed the strait following US and Israeli strikes on February 28 that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering a wider regional conflict. A fragile ceasefire has held since April 7.
The strategic and economic stakes could hardly be higher. Before the war, more than 100 ships passed through the Hormuz Strait daily, carrying roughly 25% of the world's seaborne oil and 20% of its liquefied natural gas. That flow has dropped by over 90%, straining global energy markets, pushing up food and fertiliser prices, and hitting energy-import-dependent economies particularly hard. Iran controls seven of the strait's eight major islands and has used that geographic advantage — along with cheap disruptive weapons — to impose significant costs on vessels attempting to pass without permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Tehran has also established a new body, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which has introduced a permit system for all transit and has charged fees as high as $2 million per ship, which trade experts describe as a violation of the international principle of freedom of peaceful navigation.
Diplomacy remains deadlocked but active. President Donald Trump met with advisers on Friday but had not yet decided whether to move forward with a proposed deal that would extend the ceasefire by 60 days and open nuclear talks, in exchange for reopening the strait and lifting the US blockade. Iran said no final agreement had been reached. Qatar's deputy prime minister signalled some flexibility, suggesting that transit fees linked to a specific purpose — such as mine clearance — could be negotiable as part of a path back to normalcy. The US, however, has said it has not found or destroyed any mines in the strait.
Why this matters: The Strait of Hormuz is not merely a regional flashpoint — it is a linchpin of the global energy supply chain. With commercial traffic running at a fraction of normal volumes, pressure is mounting on governments, shippers and consumers worldwide. The outcome of negotiations between Washington and Tehran over the ceasefire extension will determine whether one of the world's most consequential waterways reopens in the coming weeks or remains a source of escalating confrontation.