US military posts footage of its navy firing on Iranian ship it later seized

The American military publishes footage showing a US Navy missile destroyer opening fire on an Iranian cargo ship that attempted to pass a blockade that Washington has been maintaining around Iranian ports.

“Guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) intercepted M/V Touska as it transited the north Arabian Sea at 17 knots en route to Bandar Abbas, Iran. American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade,” the US Central Command says in a statement.

CENTCOM says that after Touska’s crew “failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room.”

The missile destroyer disabled the Iranian cargo ship’s propulsion “by firing several rounds from the destroyer’s 5-inch MK 45 Gun into Touska’s engine room.”

“U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit later boarded the non-compliant vessel, which remains in U.S. custody,” CENTCOM says.

CENTCOM says its forces “acted in a deliberate, professional, and proportional manner to ensure compliance.”

U.S. forces operating in the Arabian Sea enforced naval blockade measures against an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel attempting to sail toward an Iranian port, April 19.

Guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) intercepted M/V Touska as it transited the north Arabian Sea at… https://t.co/iyzOQd93C3 pic.twitter.com/HwU4XS48Oq

— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) April 19, 2026