Footage released by US Central Command captures the moment American naval forces tore into an Iranian cargo vessel accused of attempting to breach a US-enforced blockade – an explosive encounter that unfolded just hours before high-stakes peace talks.
The dramatic video, made public on Sunday afternoon, shows US troops aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance intercepting the Iranian-flagged M/V Touska in the Arabian Sea as it sailed toward Bandar Abbas.
According to officials, the vessel had attempted to push through the blockade despite repeated warnings.
President Donald Trump seized on the confrontation in a post on Truth Social, touting the operation ahead of negotiations between U.S and Iranian representatives scheduled to take place in Pakistan on Monday.
In the footage, American forces can be heard issuing multiple warnings to the Touska, informing the crew they were in violation of the blockade and ordering them to stop. Those warnings stretched on for six tense hours – but the ship did not comply.
With the standoff escalating, the USS Spruance issued a final directive: evacuate the engine room.
Moments later, the destroyer unleashed several rounds from its 5-inch MK 45 gun, blasting directly into the ship’s engine compartment and bringing it to a halt.
Trump described the confrontation in stark terms.
‘Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them,’ wrote Trump.
‘The US Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop.
‘The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom (sic).’
‘Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity.
‘We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!’
The US military began blockading all vessels attempting to leave or enter Iranian ports or the Iranian coastline, including the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, on April 17.
The blockade began when US negotiators failed to broker a peace deal with Iran on April 12, and JD Vance returned from Islamabad empty handed.
Joined by US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Vance is set to return to the Pakistani capital on Monday in a second attempt to secure an end to the conflict.
Trump warned earlier on Sunday that he would order the US military to ‘knock out every single power plant and every single bridge’ in Iran if a peace deal is not made.
‘We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,’ Trump wrote.
‘NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years.
‘IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!’
Iran doubled down on its pledge to restrict ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remains in place, as mediators scrambled to extend the ceasefire.
The dueling blockades have complicated Pakistani-led mediation attempts and raised questions about whether the two-week truce can be extended.
‘It is impossible for others to pass through the Strait of Hormuz while we cannot,’ Iranian parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in an interview aired on state television late Saturday.
Qalibaf, who is Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States, slammed the US blockade as a ‘naive decision made out of ignorance’.
He said Iran was still seeking peace despite deep-seated distrust of the United States.
‘There will be no retreat in the field of diplomacy,’ he said, acknowledging that the gap between the two sides remained wide.
Iran had announced the strait’s reopening after a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon took hold on Friday.
But after Trump said the US blockade of Iran’s ports ‘will remain in full force’ until Tehran reaches a deal with the United States.
Iran said it would continue enforcing its restrictions in the strait.
After a brief uptick in transit attempts on Saturday, vessels in the Persian Gulf held their positions, wary after two India-flagged ships were fired on mid-transit and forced to turn around.
Their retreat returned the strait, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil trade normally passes, to its pre-ceasefire status quo, threatening to deepen the global energy crisis and push the parties toward renewed conflict.
For Iran, the strait’s closure – imposed after the US and Israel launched the war on February 28 during talks over Tehran’s nuclear program – is perhaps its most powerful weapon, threatening the world economy and inflicting political pain on Trump.
For the United States, the blockade squeezes Iran’s already weakened economy and pressures its government by denying it long-term cash flow.
