US Central Command said a US fighter jet struck the stern of the Panama-flagged M/V Ocean Molica, also known as the Arika Sun, with a precision munition, fully disabling its propulsion after the crew ignored warnings and attempted to transit regional waters after leaving an Iranian port. CENTCOM said no crew were harmed in the strike. The interception is the latest enforcement action in the ongoing US naval blockade of Iran; CENTCOM claims three months of the blockade have seen 10 shadow-fleet tankers destroyed, 4 ships disabled and 135 vessels forced to divert, figures that rest on CENTCOM’s own reporting.
US disables cargo ship running Iran blockade in Gulf of Oman
A US fighter jet struck the stern of the Panama-flagged M/V Ocean Molica, also known as the Arika Sun, with a precision munition, disabling its propulsion after the crew ignored warnings while trying to run the naval blockade on Iran.
Why it matters: A kinetic US interception of blockade-running tonnage in the Gulf of Oman raises the enforcement stakes on Iran's oil exports and the shadow fleet that carries them.
Data as of Saturday night, October 10, 2026: the account rests on US Central Command's statement on X as carried by Arab News (opened and read in full); Greek state broadcaster ERT and Al Jazeera Arabic (in Arabic, opened and read in full) relayed the same CENTCOM statement, so this is single-origin reporting and should be treated as such. Al Jazeera Arabic additionally reported CENTCOM's claim that it has destroyed 10 tankers tied to the IRGC's shadow network, disabled 4 ships and forced 135 to divert during three months of the blockade; those figures are CENTCOM's own and uncorroborated.
Sources
- US military says it disabled cargo vessel trying to run Iran blockade · Arab News · 2026-10-11
- CENTCOM says it disabled a merchant ship in the Gulf of Oman (in Greek) · ERT (Greek state broadcaster), via feed · 2026-10-11
- Two oil tankers hit in Hormuz and Israel weighs a new attack on Iran (in Arabic) · Al Jazeera Arabic · 2026-10-11