Iranian Ships Try to Run US Blockade in Gulf of Oman, Find Out That Is a Bad Idea

Iran still doesn't seem to be getting the message.

They know there's a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that's crippling them. But they still keep trying to run ships through it. Maybe, at this point, they're that desperate.

But the U.S. showed again on Friday that this was a bad idea.

U.S. forces fired on two Iranian-flagged unladen oil tankers - the M/T Sea Star III and the M/T Sevda - trying to break past the blockade and pull into an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman.

A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) disabled both tankers after firing precision munitions into their smokestacks, preventing the non-compliant ships from entering Iran.

CENTCOM announced that earlier today U.S. forces disabled two vessels, the M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda, in the Gulf of Oman as part of ongoing enforcement operations supporting a naval blockade on Iran. pic.twitter.com/CsiBOVO4ZS
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 8, 2026

That wasn't all. The United States took down a third ship, as well, on May 6.

U.S. forces also disabled Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna, May 6, as it attempted to sail to an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman. An F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) disabled the unladen oil tanker's rudder by firing several rounds from a 20mm cannon gun.

"All three vessels are no longer transiting to Iran," CENTCOM noted.

How significant is this blockade of Iran? This is an example.

CENTCOM revealed in a separate post to X on Friday that “[t]here are currently more than 70 tankers that US forces are preventing from entering or leaving Iranian ports.
“These commercial ships have the capacity to transport over 166 million barrels of Iranian oil worth an estimated $13 billion-plus.”

When the U.S. is taking $13 billion out of the regime's pocket, they just may be feeling it, particularly when their economy was already in trouble. That was why people were protesting against them to begin with. Not to mention their regime accounts overseas being tracked and frozen by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and the folks in his department doing their part with "Operation Economic Fury."

New: Bessent Follows Through on 'Economic Fury' Threat to Iranian Regime: 'Follow the Money'

At least the Iranian regime has now learned after Thursday that it is a bad idea to fire on U.S. ships. Our military gave them a serious lesson, hitting various locations on shore involved in launching attacks on the U.S. ships. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also laid down a simple red line: if you fire on us, you aren't going to get a strongly worded letter, you are going to be blown up.

Rubio Lays Down a Brutal Red Line for Iran

So Iran doesn't appear to have a lot of options that don't lead to them getting clobbered. And the clock is ticking on their time to make a deal. They've been given more than enough time on that. So the regime can finally come across with`a real offer, or their economy can continue to collapse.

Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.

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