US disables Iran-bound tanker in Gulf of Oman; Indian crew safe after fire

By Saurabh Sharma

NEW DELHI, June 8 (Reuters) - U.S. ‌forces disabled an ​unladen ​oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Monday after it attempted to sail to an Iranian port in violation of the ongoing blockade against Iran, the ‌U.S. military said.

U.S. Central Command said in a post on X that the M/T ⁠Marivex, a Palau-flagged vessel, was transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman toward Iran when it was targeted.

An ‌F/A-18 Super Hornet from the USS ‌Abraham Lincoln fired a precision munition into the ship's engineering and steering spaces after the crew failed to comply with directions from U.S. forces, CENTCOM said.

"Marivex is no longer sailing ​to Iran," it said.

The tanker had 24 Indian crew members on board, India's shipping ministry said, adding that a fire had been reported on the vessel but that all were ⁠safe.

"We are coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs, our Indian missions abroad, the Indian Navy, and the Ministry of Defence ​to ensure their safety," Opesh Kumar Sharma, a director in the federal port and shipping ministry, told a press conference. He had earlier identified the ​vessel as registered in Madagascar.

The U.S. blockade of Iranian ‌ports began in April after Iran severely curtailed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a major global oil and gas route. CENTCOM has said the ⁠restrictions apply to vessels going to or from Iran, not ships transiting the strait to non-Iranian destinations.

Marivex has been previously sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, an Indian source with direct ⁠knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

OFAC, which enforces U.S. sanctions, has since February 2025 imposed sanctions on about 1,000 ​Iran-related individuals, vessels and aircraft as part of a campaign to exert maximum economic pressure against Iran's shadow banking, money-laundering and sanctions-evasion networks.

The vessel turned away on three occasions after repeated warnings by the U.S. Navy, ‌the source said, adding that the ship made another attempt to run past the blockade by using Omani territorial waters on Monday.

The Indian embassy ‌in Oman said its officials were in touch with Omani authorities over the rescue and safety of ⁠the sailors. The source told Reuters that ‌all crew members had been ​rescued with the help of Omani authorities.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Hritam Mukherjee; Additional Reporting by Tanvi Mehta and Gnaneshwar Rajan Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and ‌Sanjeev Miglani)

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