The Pentagon soon after the interdiction and boarding released a very brief, limited clip of a US warship firing on the vessel from afar - or also what might have been a warning shot. Later it released short footage of the actual Marine boarding, which occurred in the dead of night:

The footage shows American special forces helicopters surrounding the stricken vessel as an elite team of Marines rappel onto its deck. The ship has since been identified as the Touska, already under Washington sanctions. The vessel could now become the "spoils of war" as the US effectively takes control of its contents.

CENTCOM in releasing the footage described in greater detail: "U.S. Marines depart amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7) by helicopter and transit over the Arabian Sea to board and seize M/V Touska. The Marines rappelled onto the Iranian-flagged vessel, April 19, after guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) disabled Touska's propulsion when the commercial ship failed to comply with repeated warnings from U.S. forces over a six-hour period."

The boarding operation went down a little after midnight in Iran, and the particular destroyer that initially fired on the Touska was the USS Spruance. It has used its 5-inch (127 mm) MK 45 gun to hit the ship's engine room.

The Iranian vessel tried to cross from the Arabian Sea through the Strait of Hormuz and was headed to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas when it was intercepted.

On Sunday President Trump had written on social media, "Our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room."