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U.S. aircraft fired Hellfire missiles to disable oil tanker M/T Belma, first vessel struck under reimposed Iran blockade

On July 15, 2026, a U.S. aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into the smokestack of the Curaçao-flagged oil tanker M/T Belma as it transited international waters in the Persian Gulf toward Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal, disabling the unladen vessel after U.S. Central Command said it ignored repeated warnings to stop. CENTCOM said it was the first vessel U.S. forces disabled since reimposing the naval blockade of Iranian ports the day before, and that two other commercial vessels that complied were redirected the same day. The strike enforced a blockade continuing without new congressional authorization after Congress's June 2026 War Powers Resolution directed the president to end hostilities with Iran.

Part of: Trump Administration's Iran War Waged in Defiance of the War Powers Act

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Persian Gulf (international waters, approaching Kharg Island, Iran)

Abuses documented

Actors

On July 15, 2026, a U.S. aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into the smokestack of the Curaçao-flagged oil tanker M/T Belma (IMO 9289491) as it transited international waters in the Persian Gulf toward Kharg Island, Iran's principal oil export terminal, disabling the unladen vessel. U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the ship had ignored repeated warnings to stop, and posted an 18-second video showing the aircraft firing into the tanker's smokestack. "U.S. forces enforced naval blockade measures against Iran, (on) July 15, by disabling an unladen oil tanker attempting to sail toward an Iranian port in the Arabian Gulf," CENTCOM said.

The strike was the first vessel disabled since the United States reimposed its naval blockade of Iranian ports at 4 p.m. ET on July 14, 2026. CENTCOM said two other commercial vessels that complied with U.S. warnings during the blockade's first 24 hours were redirected rather than fired upon. The blockade and the wider Iran campaign proceed without new congressional authorization and after the bicameral War Powers Resolution Congress passed in June 2026 directing the president to end hostilities with Iran; the administration has continued strikes and enforcement actions through multiple rounds since.

This is a discrete enforcement action, not a restatement of the blockade's reimposition the day before (recorded separately, entries/2026/07/14/federal-executive-overreach-709b4b25.yaml) or of the same day's broader wave of strikes on Iranian territory (entries/2026/07/15/federal-executive-overreach-86f85fd7.yaml). It is the third in a documented series of blockade-enforcement strikes on civilian merchant vessels in this archive, following the fatal June 10, 2026 strike on M/T Settebello (entries/2026/06/10/federal-extrajudicial-actions-267d0441.yaml). Using lethal force against unarmed civilian shipping to enforce a blockade tied to a war Congress has directed the executive to end raises the same extrajudicial-force and war-powers concerns as that earlier strike, independent of whether this particular vessel's crew was harmed; no injuries were reported in connection with the Belma strike, and crew size was not disclosed.

Why we recorded this

The Constitution gives Congress, not the president alone, the power to take the nation into sustained armed conflict, and the laws of war restrict the use of lethal force against civilian shipping to narrow, lawful circumstances. Here U.S. forces enforcing an executive-ordered naval blockade of Iran fired Hellfire missiles into an unarmed civilian oil tanker in international waters, disabling it without judicial process, in service of a war Congress had directed the president to end. When the executive applies lethal force against non-combatant shipping on its own authority, and continues a war Congress voted to stop, both the legal limits on the use of force and Congress's constitutional control over war-making are weakened. This is recorded because the exercise of lethal power outside clear legal authority, and the sidelining of Congress's war powers, are erosions of democratic and legal restraint that belong in the record.

Sources

  1. US says it disabled oil tanker trying to breach Iran naval blockade — Anadolu Agency primary accessed August 14, 2026
  2. US forces disable tanker heading to Iranian port as blockade resumes — Stars and Stripes primary accessed August 14, 2026
  3. US disables oil tanker M/T Belma with Hellfire missiles near Kharg Island as Iran naval blockade resumes — Army Recognition secondary accessed August 14, 2026
  4. US military disables first tanker in Arabian Sea since blockade was reimposed — The Hill secondary accessed August 14, 2026

See also