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8JUN

F/A-18 disables tankers via smokestack on 8 May

4 min read
10:46UTC

A US Navy F/A-18 from USS George H.W. Bush put 500-pound laser-guided warheads down the chimneys of M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda on 8 May. CENTCOM's blockade redirection count climbed to 57.

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Key takeaway

An aerial doctrine that disables tankers without sinking them, the same weekend Trump called it 'a love tap'.

An F/A-18 Super Hornet launched from the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers, M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda, on 8 May by firing precision munitions through their smokestacks 1. US Central Command (CENTCOM), the Pentagon command responsible for the Strait of Hormuz blockade, confirmed both vessels were attempting to reach Iranian ports in violation of standing redirection orders. The ordnance, likely 500-pound laser-guided warheads, was dropped down the chimney rather than into hull or magazine, disabling the propulsion and electrics without rupturing the cargo or killing the crew.

This was the third blockade enforcement action in a fortnight and the first to use aerial precision-disabling rather than naval gun fire. CENTCOM's commercial-vessel redirection count has now climbed from 48 on 3 May to 52 on 7 May to 57 on 8 May, five fresh redirections in two days. Four Iranian-flagged vessels have been physically disabled across the campaign so far 2. The technique maps onto a long-standing US Navy preference for proportional kinetic response: the 1988 Praying Mantis engagements aimed to neutralise Iranian platforms without sinking civilian shipping in the same waters. The 2026 variant uses laser-guided ordnance for what 1988 did with five-inch gun fire.

The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the IRGC overarching joint operational command, claimed "significant damage" to US destroyers from the 7-8 May missile, drone and small-boat salvos near Bandar Abbas . CENTCOM confirmed zero hull damage and zero US casualties 3. Tasnim, the IRGC-linked agency, cited an unnamed senior source claiming three US destroyers fled to the Gulf of Oman. Both accounts cannot be true; both are real official statements in an information war running behind the kinetic one.

Donald Trump described the same exchange to ABC News as "just a love tap" on the same weekend his pilots were dropping laser-guided ordnance down two tanker chimneys. The verbal de-escalation track and the kinetic enforcement track are no longer running on the same calendar. The new precision-disabling doctrine creates an evidentiary record (vessel still afloat, intact cargo, surviving crew) that enables prosecution under the Hormuz blockade legal architecture, where sinking would have foreclosed it. CENTCOM has not yet published the rules of engagement under which an aircraft may put precision munitions into a non-combatant tanker.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

A US Navy jet from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush flew over two Iranian oil tankers on 8 May and dropped precision bombs through their smokestacks, the metal exhaust chimneys on top of the ships. This disabled both ships' engines and electricity without blowing holes in the hull or igniting the cargo. This was not a random attack. The US has been enforcing a naval blockade, turning back ships trying to deliver oil to Iran. These two tankers were attempting to bypass the blockade to reach Iranian ports. The method of disabling through the smokestack, rather than firing at the hull, was chosen specifically to incapacitate the vessel without sinking it or killing the crew, so the ships can be towed away and the action defended as proportionate under international law. Despite this, President Trump described the same strikes to ABC News as 'just a love tap', while the actual bombs used weighed 500 pounds. The gap between his public description and what his military actually did illustrates how differently the verbal and military tracks of this war are being run.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

The US Navy's preference for disabling rather than sinking reflects a structural constraint specific to the Strait of Hormuz geography.

The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest navigable point; a sunk VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) at the choke would produce a navigational obstruction with a draught exceeding 20 metres, potentially closing the channel entirely for weeks. **CENTCOM** planners are operating with an implicit constraint that the blockade must remain selectively permeable: enough enforcement to coerce, not enough structural damage to make the strait itself unnavigable. Disabling-not-sinking preserves the option space.

The F/A-18 strike on M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda on 8 May is the third enforcement action and the first aerial one, driven by the absence of a surface-boarding alternative that could safely approach vessels in an active IRGC-fire environment. The switch to aerial precision was not a doctrinal preference but a tactical necessity produced by the IRGC's small-boat swarm tactics near Bandar Abbas.

What could happen next?
  • Precedent

    The smokestack precision-disabling technique, applied without published RoE, sets a doctrinal precedent other naval powers may cite to justify similar disabling strikes on third-party shipping in contested chokepoints.

    Medium term · 0.8
  • Risk

    Without published RoE, an aircraft crew error or escalation in a future engagement has no established legal boundary; the first fatality on a disabled tanker would collapse the proportionality defence CENTCOM is currently relying on.

    Short term · 0.82
  • Consequence

    The 57-vessel CENTCOM redirection count creates an evidentiary record that will be presented to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea once Iran or a flag state files; each disabled vessel is a discrete legal case.

    Long term · 0.7
Sources:Arms Control Association·NBC News·Times of Israel
Mentions:F/A-18 Super Hornet →USS George H.W. Bush →M/T Sea Star III →M/T Sevda →CENTCOM (US Central Command) →Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters →Iran →Tasnim →Gulf of Oman →Bandar Abbas →Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) →Donald Trump →US Navy →Persian Gulf →SIPRI →European University Viadrina →Commander James Kraska →US Naval War College →Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg →UNCLOS Article 58 →San Remo Manual Rule 67 →Yoram Dinstein →USS Stark →Pentagon →Strait of Hormuz →Operation Praying Mantis →Mirage →Oman →Khatam al-Anbiya →NBC News →ABC News →
First Reported In

Update #92 · An MOU asking Iran to surrender what nobody can count

Arms Control Association· 9 May 2026
Read original →
Causes and effects
Caused by
CENTCOM blockade tally hits 48 vessels
CENTCOM's blockade enforcement that reached 48 redirections on 3 May established the escalation baseline the 8 May smokestack bombing advanced.
Occurred 3 May 2026
Read story →
CENTCOM redirections rise to 52, pace slows
The 52-redirection count on 7 May is the direct predecessor to the 57-redirection count and smokestack disabling on 8 May.
Occurred 7 May 2026
Read story →
IRGC fires on US destroyers in Hormuz
The IRGC missile and drone attacks on US destroyers on 7-8 May directly preceded and contextualise the US smokestack strike response on 8 May.
Occurred 7 May 2026
Read story →
This Event
F/A-18 disables tankers via smokestack on 8 May
The first aerial precision-disabling under the Hormuz blockade establishes a doctrinal middle ground between redirect and sink, and contradicts the President's verbal characterisation of the same engagement.
Led to
CENTCOM redirections hit 58; four ships disabled
The four disabled ships as of 10 May include the two named in the 8 May smokestack-bombing action (Sea Star III and Sevda), plus two additional unnamed disabling actions
Occurred 10 May 2026
Read story →
Different Perspectives
US money managers (CFTC-tracked)
US money managers (CFTC-tracked)
US money managers had trimmed WTI net long positioning into July's rally, doubting the Hormuz premium would hold without freight or war-risk confirmation, and the crude stock build reported for the week to 17 July gives that scepticism a fundamentals basis. The 25 July CFTC data will show whether Brent's move above $100 changed their calculus.
Asian distillate buyers (Singapore)
Asian distillate buyers (Singapore)
Singapore's distillate holders kept retaining middle-distillate barrels as the East-West arbitrage window narrowed further this week, a pattern that sharpened as Fujairah light distillates hit a record low. Cargoes are being held rather than released west into the tightening Mediterranean market.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria secured the removal of Lukoil founder Vagit Alekperov and Patriarch Kirill from the 21st package, with President Rumen Radev calling a personal listing 'shooting ourselves in the foot'. Sofia is protecting its position in Lukoil's EUR 3bn compensation claim over the 2023 Neftohim Burgas nationalisation.
Russia
Russia
Russia loses the roughly $14 a barrel of legal headroom the price-cap formula would have released toward $58, even as Urals continues trading below Moscow's $59 budget floor. The shadow-fleet insurance workaround that lets sanctioned crude clear above $44 in practice remains untouched by the freeze itself.
European Union
European Union
The EU adopted its 21st sanctions package on 23 July, freezing the $44 Russia oil cap for 12 months rather than letting the formula drift it toward $58, and listed shadow-fleet support vessels for the first time. The package cleared only after three failed Coreper votes.
Marine war-risk underwriters (Lloyd's-linked syndicates)
Marine war-risk underwriters (Lloyd's-linked syndicates)
War-risk syndicates lifted southern Red Sea hull premiums 150% to about 0.75% of hull value after the 20 July blockade declaration, still a seventh of the roughly 5% Hormuz band. Underwriters reset on realised loss, not declared threat, so the 23 July Encelia and Layla strikes set up the next re-mark.