The detail that matters is where the rounds went. US forces fired into the engine room of the Lavine in the Gulf of Oman on July 24, after the crew did not comply with warnings and following at least four previous attempts by the vessel to run the American blockade of Iranian ports [1].
The engine room is where a ship's crew works.
Iranian media reported two sailors killed. CENTCOM acknowledged the casualty reports [1] - a narrower thing than confirming them, and this account does not treat the deaths as established, because the figure comes from one side.
The ship was carrying Iranian liquefied petroleum gas and was, by that tracking, the second vessel disabled since the blockade resumed on July 14 [1].
There is a discrepancy in the public record worth naming. CENTCOM's own tally states that since resuming the blockade it has redirected 12 commercial vessels and disabled one. If the Lavine is the second disabled ship, those counts do not reconcile - and the difference is not academic when the question is how many crews have been fired on.
On July 25, UK Maritime Trade Operations reported an incident involving a tanker and military forces in the Gulf of Oman and advised vessels to remain alert, without naming the ship or the forces [2]. CENTCOM spokesman Tim Hawkins confirmed a tanker breaching the blockade had been disabled on Friday, and that the blockade remains active [3].
What can be established tonight is this: American forces are firing into the machinery spaces of merchant ships, one side says two men died doing that job, and the ledger the United States publishes has a column for vessels and none for people [1][3].
