US Navy dispatches destroyer – after Iran ‘fires warnings shots and boards cargo ship’

It was initially reported that a US cargo ship had been shot at and boarded, but it later emerged the ship was the MV Maersk Tigris, a Danish owned vessel registered in the Marshall Islands.

The Pentagon said in a statement that Iranian forces boarded the ship at around 9am local time on Tuesday after firing a warning shot across its bows as it was traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.

“The master was contacted and directed to proceed further into Iranian territorial waters. He declined and one of the Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) craft fired shots across the bridge of the Maersk Tigris,” said spokesman Col Steve Warren.

“The master complied with the…