Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they hit a US and Israel linked cargo ship with a cruise missile near Iraq on Monday, though Iraqi investigators have questioned whether any attack took place.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy said the operation answered a US strike on the Iranian linked bulk carrier Lian Star in the Sea of Oman, and warned that further American action would draw a “decisive” response.
What is confirmed is thinner. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported a vessel about 40 nautical miles southeast of Umm Qasr was struck on its starboard side and suffered a large explosion, but did not initially confirm its identity. The ship, an ageing Panama flagged container vessel operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), had a crew that escaped without casualties.
Iraqi authorities offered a different account. A security source cited by Alsumaria News said early findings pointed to a possible internal mechanical fault rather than an external strike, with no evidence the ship was deliberately targeted, after it had finished unloading at Umm Qasr. MSC had not commented publicly.
The episode caps days of escalation. The Lian Star was reportedly hit on Friday by an AGM-114 Hellfire missile from a US aircraft that struck its engine room. US Central Command said over the weekend it carried out defensive strikes on Iranian radar and drone command sites after Iran downed an American MQ-1 drone over international waters, while the IRGC said it had hit the base behind a US attack on a telecoms tower on Sirik Island.
The wider waterway remains contested. Iran has barred US and Israel affiliated vessels from the Strait of Hormuz since 28 February, and Washington has maintained a naval blockade on Iranian ports. The IRGC said 15 ships, including four oil tankers, crossed the strait in a day with its permission.
The flare-up lands awkwardly. For weeks the two sides had reportedly inched toward a ceasefire framework that would reopen Hormuz in exchange for lifting the blockade.
