The U.S. military yesterday said it had used ⁠missiles to disable the steering ‌gear of a Panama-flagged cargo ‌ship which ‌ignored ⁠repeated warnings ⁠to stop violating a naval blockade on Iranian ‌ports.

A U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two ‌Hellfire missiles into the Vela Nova’s engine ⁠room, the Central Command ‌added.

“As of Aug. 11, CENTCOM has redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting ‌to run the blockade, disabled 3 non-compliant vessels, ⁠and boarded 2,” ⁠it said in ‌a statement.

– Reuters