The US military forcibly seized an Iranian cargo ship on Sunday after it tried to pass a naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz. The interception took place in international waters — with President Donald Trump claiming a guided missile destroyer had “blown a hole in the engine room” before US Marines took custody of the ship. Tehran has accused America of “piracy” and Trump of violating the fragile ceasefire between the countries. Officials have also vowed retaliation for the attack.
According to data from TankerTrackers.com, the ship had departed from Port Klang in Malaysia with cargo. The monitoring group said on X that the Iranian-flagged Touska had passed the US blockade line before the interception. The vessel was intercepted around 550 kilometers, or about 340 miles, east of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman. US Central Command said the Touska was headed towards the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran when it was targeted.
The Touska was built in 2007 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. It is a massive Panamax-class container vessel that measures 294 meters (965 feet) in length and 32 meters (105 feet) in width. It can carry roughly 5,000 standard shipping containers.
‘Blew the engine’ – How US struck Iranian cargo ship Touska
Footage released by CENTCOM showed the moments before the tanker was seized — with calls heralding the attack and multiple rounds of fire.
“Motor vessel Touska, Motor vessel Touska. Vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We are about to subject you to disabling fire,” can be heard in the video before guns fire three rounds.
What has Trump said?
Both Trump and the US military claimed via social media posts that the vessel had ignored multiple warnings over six hours. US forces had ordered the crew to evacuate the engine room before the USS Spruance fired at it.
“The TOUSKA is under US Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!” Trump reiterated in a Truth Social post.
Significance of the attack
The strike marks a significant escalation in the US-Iran conflict — the first vessel to be forcibly seized by the US Navy amid its blockade of Iranian ports. The Touska has been sanctioned by multiple countries and remains ‘blacklisted’ from international finance and global ports.
It has been sanctioned by the US, UK and European Union over its “history of illegal activity”. According to a report by The Washington Post, it is operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, which is considered by the Western bloc as a primary transport arm for Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear proliferation programs. The allegations against the Touska include involvement in the procurement of sensitive materials like sodium perchlorate (a key precursor for solid rocket fuel) from ports in China.
Iran vows retaliation
Tehran has vowed a swift response to the US seizure without divulging any details. Iran’s state-run broadcaster quoted the military headquarters as saying that the attack was a violation of the ceasefire and an act of “maritime piracy”.
“The eighth. Touska’s only crime was being the eighth. By ship nine, even Fox was going to ask Trump questions. The blockade has a leak. Seven out of eight, technically. So Trump sent the USS Spruance — the most overqualified piece of ship afloat. Touska is now the most expensive cargo the Pentagon has ever touched. They just don’t know the price yet. They will,” warned an X post from the Iranian Embassy in Ghana.