US Fires Hellfire into Tanker’s Smokestack to Stop Kharg Island Run

An empty tanker heading for Iran's Kharg Island was stopped with Hellfire missiles on July 15, the first to be disabled since the US reimposed its maritime blockade of Iranian ports a day earlier.

The Curacao-flagged M/T Belma, a 333-metre VLCC carrying nothing, was sailing toward Kharg Island when a US aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into the tanker's smokestack. It stopped. US Central Command said it had issued multiple warnings before acting.

Kharg Island handles roughly 90% of Iran's crude oil exports. Getting a tanker to its loading berths was exactly what the blockade was designed to prevent.

CENTCOM said the Belma was unladen. In the first 24 hours of the renewed blockade, two other tankers that received warnings turned around. Only the Belma pressed on.

The blockade went back into effect on July 14 after the interim ceasefire, agreed six weeks earlier, collapsed. Iran had struck several tankers and regional targets in the days before the US reimposed the order. No crew casualties were reported from the Belma strike.