The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said, “The owner of a container ship reported that an IRGC gunboat approached the ship… which fired on the ship, causing heavy damage to the bridge. There are no reports of fires or environmental impacts.”
It said the incident occurred 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman and all crew were safe.
According to British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech, the ship was sailing under the Liberian flag and “had been informed that it had permission to transit the Strait of Hormuz”.
Iranian news agency Tasnim said the ship had “ignored warnings from Iran’s armed forces”.
The IGRC said its naval forces “identified and intercepted two violating vessels in the Strait of Hormuz this morning”.
In a statement, the force said the ships were “seized by IRGC naval forces and directed towards the Iranian coast.”
The IRGC has named the two seized ships as MSC-Francesca and Epaminondas, Iranian broadcaster IRIB said on Telegram.
It alleged that Francesca was linked to Israel while Epaminondas lacked “the necessary permits” and was “tampering with the navigation system”.
Ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic showed that the two ships – both container ships – were stopped near the Iranian coast on Wednesday.