June 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. military fired a Hellfire missile at a tanker heading toward Iran on Tuesday as part of a blockade being imposed by President Donald Trump, who is pressing Tehran to negotiate a peace agreement on his terms.
The U.S. military’s Central Command posted a video showing the missile strike the tanker and said it targeted the Botswana-flagged M/T Lexie’s engine room, disabling it.
“The ship’s crew ignored repeated warnings, failing to comply with directions from U.S. forces multiple times over a 24-hour period,” Central Command said in a statement.
“A U.S. aircraft ultimately disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room, preventing the tanker from reaching Iran.”
The Lexie is the sixth ship that the U.S. military has disabled since it started its blockade of Iran on April 13. The U.S. military says it has also redirected 122 vessels that were seeking to enter or exit Iranian ports so far.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis and Franklin Paul)
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