CENTCOM Releases Footage of Tanker Interdiction at the Strait of Hormuz

U.S. Central Command released footage on May 8 documenting the interdiction of two Iranian-flagged tankers, the Sea Star III and the Sevda, as they attempted to breach the U.S. naval blockade and enter an Iranian port. A Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet operating from the USS George H.W. Bush struck both vessels’ smokestacks with precision munitions, disabling them before they could reach their destination. CENTCOM confirmed neither tanker continued its transit toward Iran.

The interdiction came one day after a separate and more consequential engagement in the strait itself. On May 7, three U.S. guided-missile destroyers — USS Truxtun, USS Mason, and USS Rafael Peralta — transited the international sea passage and came under attack from Iranian forces deploying anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, kamikaze drones, and fast-attack boats. CENTCOM intercepted the inbound threats and reported no American assets struck. In response, U.S. forces struck Iranian military targets including missile and drone launch sites, command and control nodes, and intelligence and surveillance infrastructure. Strikes were confirmed at Qeshm Port and Bandar Abbas.

The IRGC Navy claimed it had inflicted significant damage on three U.S. warships and forced them to flee the strait — a claim CENTCOM directly contradicted. Iran’s Foreign Ministry characterized the destroyer transit as a provocation and described the initial U.S. action against the oil tanker near Jask as a ceasefire violation. Washington rejected that framing entirely.

The footage serves a specific evidentiary function. After days of competing narratives from Tehran and Washington over who fired first and what damage was inflicted, visual documentation of the blockade enforcement shifts the information environment. The tanker interdiction is not ambiguous: a vessel attempted passage, U.S. forces disabled it, and the footage records the outcome without requiring interpretation.

The blockade itself has been in effect since late March, when the IRGC announced the strait closed to vessels serving U.S., Israeli, and allied ports. Tanker traffic has collapsed to near zero. Roughly 2,000 ships and 20,000 mariners remain stranded inside the Persian Gulf. The Sea Star III and Sevda were testing whether that enforcement posture had softened. It had not.

Trump, asked about the exchange, said the warships had been attacked and that American forces responded decisively. He described the U.S. counterstrikes as “love taps” while warning of far greater consequences if Iran does not reach a nuclear agreement. Secretary of State Rubio indicated Washington expected an Iranian response on a potential deal by Friday. The dual track — kinetic enforcement of the blockade alongside active diplomacy — defines the current operational logic. Footage of disabled tankers is part of that logic: it signals to Tehran and to third-party shipping interests that the blockade is real, enforced, and documented.

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