U.S. Marines Seize Iranian Ship
Early Monday, U.S. Central Command shared new footage showing Marines boarding and capturing an Iranian ship that was attempting to evade a U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump revealed that the USS Spruance, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, had shelled and taken control of the Iranian-flagged cargo ship named Touska as it tried to cross the blockade. In a 33-second video posted on CENTCOM’s X account, Marines can be seen descending onto the ship from a Sikorsky MH-60S helicopter, which is the Navy version of the UH-60 Black Hawk.
CENTCOM announced, “U.S. Marines departed the amphibious assault ship Tripoli (LHA 7) by helicopter, made their way across the Arabian Sea, boarded the M/V Touska, and captured the vessel.” They rappelled onto the Iranian ship on April 19, after the USS Spruance disabled Touska for six hours due to the crew’s failure to follow repeated warnings from the U.S. military.
Earlier, on April 12, Trump had stated that vessels making payments to Iran in Chinese yuan or virtual currencies would be seized, and he intended to establish a naval blockade.
CENTCOM elaborated, “After Towska’s crew ignored warnings for six hours, the Spruance ordered the evacuation of the engine room. The destroyer then fired shots into the engine room, disabling Towska’s propulsion.” Following this, Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit boarded the ship, which is still under U.S. control.
This incident occurred as the president suggested that the special envoy might visit Pakistan for a new round of negotiations with Iran, contingent on reaching an agreement. This development also came after Iranian authorities had limited access to the strait and fired upon a tanker.
The Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer is armed with a 5-inch gun, two 324 mm torpedo tubes, and it can carry various surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles. CENTCOM previously shared details about how Spruance intercepted and neutralized Towska in a post on X.
It’s worth mentioning that these types of destroyers are versatile, equipped to deal with multiple threats in maritime operations.
