US jet disables tanker bound for Iran, crew of 24 Indians rescued

US forces disabled the Palau-flagged oil tanker M/T Marivex in the Gulf of Oman on Monday after it attempted to run a naval blockade of Iranian ports, opening a dangerous new front in the widening regional conflict. An F/A-18 Super Hornet from the USS Abraham Lincoln fired a precision munition into the vessel’s engine room when the crew ignored repeated warnings, US Central Command confirmed. The tanker was unladen and its 24 Indian crew members were safely evacuated after a fire broke out, with Omani authorities swiftly rescuing all on board.

Viewed from Washington, the strike was a calibrated enforcement of a maritime interdiction that began on 13 April and has now neutralised seven vessels, redirected 134 others, and permitted passage to 42 compliant ships. The Marivex had been on a US Treasury sanctions blacklist since December 2025 for alleged links to Iran. Moscow’s state-affiliated media highlighted the same statistics while also reminding readers that on 3 June Iranian forces struck a US destroyer’s command centre in the Strait of Oman in retaliation for earlier interceptions — suggesting a tit-for-tat logic that official US statements largely omit.

For New Delhi the priority was the crew’s fate. The Indian embassy in Muscat thanked Omani authorities and clarified the vessel was not Indian-owned, despite the entirely Indian crew. Distress signals monitored by the Forward Seamen’s Union of India indicated the ship was on fire and sinking after the missile struck the engine room. The incident underscored a growing peril for seafarers from developing nations who man the world’s shadow fleet, often caught between great-power brinkmanship and flag-state indifference.

Regional observers note the incident unfolded as Iran briefly closed and then reopened its western airspace following Israeli strikes, and as the US pressed for ceasefires while intensifying its maritime campaign. Analysts in London warn that the expansive interpretation of blockade rules in international waters risks normalising attacks on commercial shipping, with unpredictable consequences for insurance, energy markets, and the freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly a fifth of global oil transits.

With the Iran-centred conflict now in its third month, the disabling of the Marivex is both a tactical signal of US resolve and a reminder that the Gulf of Oman is becoming an active theatre of interdiction. Whether such strikes deter or provoke remains an open question, but for the 24 Indian seamen plucked from the sea it was a terrifying encounter with the operational logic of a blockade that few states beyond Washington recognise as lawful.