{"id":4511,"date":"2026-06-03T04:02:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T01:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/drone-and-missile-attacks-target-cargo-ships-near-iraq\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T04:02:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T01:02:37","slug":"drone-and-missile-attacks-target-cargo-ships-near-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/drone-and-missile-attacks-target-cargo-ships-near-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"Drone and Missile Attacks Target Cargo Ships near Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

A cargo vessel operating near Iraq’s Umm Qasr port was struck by drones on Monday in what Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps now claims was a missile retaliation against Western commercial shipping, following a U.S. Navy enforcement action in the Gulf of Oman.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The incident unfolded approximately 40 nautical miles southeast of Umm Qasr, where a commercial ship was hit by a projectile on its starboard side, causing a substantial explosion, according to Breitbart News<\/em>. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center confirmed the initial strike but did not immediately identify the targeted vessel.<\/p>\n

Iraqi officials reported that a second explosion occurred as emergency responders were still addressing damage from the first attack. A member of the Iraqi maritime patrol<\/strong> described the harrowing scene, noting that a drone was heard hovering overhead before delivering a powerful blast that ignited a fire aboard the tanker.<\/p>\n

MSC Vessel Confirmed as Target<\/h2>\n

By Monday evening, the EOS Marine security service identified the ship as the MSC Sariska V, a Panama-flagged container vessel owned by the Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world’s largest container shipping line. Martin Kelly<\/strong>, Head of Advisory at EOS Marine, stated the ship had likely been struck by an uncrewed surface vessel in Iraqi territorial waters after completing cargo operations at Umm Qasr.<\/p>\n

MSC confirmed on Tuesday that the Sariska V sustained hits from two projectiles. The company expressed deep concern over what it termed unprovoked attacks that endanger seafarers and essential maritime trade throughout the region.<\/p>\n

IRGC Claims Responsibility<\/h2>\n

Iran’s state-run Tasnim news service published a statement from the IRGC Navy claiming responsibility for attacking the Sariska V with a cruise missile, as Breitbart News<\/em> reports. The terror organization characterized the vessel as property of the “U.S.-Zionist enemy” and framed the strike as retaliation for American military action against the Iranian ship MV Lian Star in the Sea of Oman.<\/p>\n

The IRGC warned that any act of aggression by U.S. forces in the region would provoke a decisive response.<\/p>\n

U.S. Blockade Enforcement<\/h2>\n

The MV Lian Star, a Gambia-flagged cargo vessel, attempted to breach the U.S. blockade of Iran on Friday night. After ignoring more than 20 warnings from the U.S. Navy, the ship was disabled by a Hellfire missile strike to its engine room and left adrift in the Gulf of Oman.<\/p>\n

U.S. Central Command noted in its statement that American forces have disabled five commercial vessels and redirected 116 others to fully enforce the blockade while a ceasefire with Iran remains in effect.<\/p>\n

With information from Breitbart News<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for a missile attack on the MSC Sariska V cargo ship near Iraq’s Umm Qasr port, calling it retaliation for U.S. military action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[2896,4909,96,532,356,4908,292],"nfg_topic":[135],"class_list":["post-4511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-drone-attacks","tag-gulf-of-oman","tag-iran","tag-iraq","tag-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps","tag-umm-qasr","tag-united-states-navy","nfg_topic-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4511"},{"taxonomy":"nfg_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nfg_topic?post=4511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}