The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said the incident occurred at around 7.55am local time when an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gunboat approached a container ship and opened fire without issuing any prior warning or hail.

The UKMTO said the vessel sustained heavy damage to its bridge, but no injuries were reported among the crew and no environmental damage was observed.

It added that the ship was approached in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the attack.

However, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that Iranian forces had “enforced maritime law” on a vessel that ignored repeated warnings.

The UKMTO account, however, said the master of the vessel reported being approached by an IRGC gunboat that subsequently fired on the ship, causing significant damage to the bridge structure.

Earlier this week, reports indicated that US forces had seized an Iranian-linked container ship and boarded another tanker in the Indian Ocean, adding to the broader escalation in waters around the Gulf.