US Navy forces stopped two Iranian military attempts to take control of two commercial oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, just outside the Strait of Hormuz, the Washington Post reports. American forces monitored via radio and drone as an Iranian military vessel ordered the tanker Richmond Voyager, about a mile away from it, to halt. Drone footage showed what appeared to be bullets ricocheting off the tanker’s structure. The guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul sailed to the area, forcing the Iranians to withdraw.
A few hours earlier, the McFaul responded to another ship, the Marshall Islands-registered tanker TRF Moss, which also had been ordered by a different Iranian vessel to stop, a prelude to boarding and seizure. Navy officials have increased patrols in international waters in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman since May when Iran became more aggressive with international shipping traffic.