US warships enter Strait of Hormuz as Iran strikes UAE tanker and fires on naval vessels

US guided-missile destroyers entered the Gulf of Oman through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday under fire from Iranian forces, as Washington launched a naval escort mission that immediately triggered clashes with Tehran and a wave of Iranian missile and drone strikes against the United Arab Emirates.

The Details

The operation, dubbed "Project Freedom," was announced by President Donald Trump on Sunday to guide commercial vessels stranded by Iran's blockade of the strategic waterway. US Central Command said the warships entered the strait to begin escorting ships but came under fire almost immediately, according to US and Iranian accounts.

Iranian state television reported that the Iranian navy fired cruise missiles, rockets, and combat drones near the American warships after what Tehran described as multiple warning shots. Iranian media, citing the Fars news agency, claimed a US frigate was targeted by two missiles near the Iranian port of Jask after ignoring warnings. The US military flatly denied that any of its vessels had been hit.

Trump responded to Tehran's threats with an explicit warning: any Iranian forces that target US ships would be "blown off the face of the Earth," he said, speaking hours after the operation began.

The heightened naval confrontation in the strait coincided with renewed Iranian strikes on the United Arab Emirates. UAE authorities issued nationwide mobile missile alerts on Monday evening to residents in Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi, urging them to seek shelter immediately in secure buildings.

UAE air defenses intercepted four Iranian cruise missiles, the Ministry of Defence said. Three of the missiles were destroyed over the country's territorial waters while a fourth fell into the sea. In a separate drone attack, a fire broke out at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, injuring three Indian nationals who were taken to hospital, according to the Fujairah Media Office.

Earlier on Monday, Iran fired two drones at a tanker affiliated with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) as it transited the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE Foreign Ministry said. No injuries were reported aboard the vessel, but the ministry condemned the strike as a "terrorist attack" and a "flagrant violation" of UN Security Council Resolution 2817 on freedom of maritime navigation.

"Targeting commercial navigation and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of pressure or economic blackmail constitutes acts of piracy by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps," the ministry said, calling the incident a direct threat to global energy security.

Flight disruptions followed. Multiple inbound and outbound flights at Dubai International Airport were cancelled or delayed, including routes to Bahrain, Karachi, Riyadh, and London, while residents in Dubai and Sharjah reported hearing loud blasts from the interceptions.

Context

Away from the Hormuz flashpoint, Hezbollah's leader issued a sharp rejection of direct negotiations between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, saying any such talks would amount to a concession benefiting Washington and Jerusalem.

"There is no ceasefire in Lebanon, but a continuous Israeli-American aggression," Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said in a written statement broadcast by the group's al-Manar television channel. The comments came as Israeli forces continued operations in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire that took effect on April 17, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

Inside Iran, authorities announced the execution of three men charged over protests in January, the latest in a string of executions that rights groups have denounced as a campaign to instill fear among the population amid the ongoing war with the United States and Israel. Amnesty International and other watchdogs have accused Tehran of using the death penalty on a near-daily basis against defendants they describe as political prisoners.

Despite the April 8 ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, direct peace talks have stalled. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, said Monday that ending the war remained Tehran's priority but demanded that the US abandon what he called "excessive demands regarding Iran." Trump has insisted that Iran must lift its blockade of the strait before broader agreements can be reached and has described Iran's nuclear program as a red line.

What's Next

The economic consequences of the two-month-old war are mounting. Dubai International Airport, one of the world's busiest hubs, handled just 2.5 million passengers in March, a two-thirds drop from the same month a year earlier, the emirate's media office said. The decline follows more than 1,900 Iranian missiles and drones launched at the UAE since the war began on February 28, according to BBC estimates, including several incidents near the airport.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas exports pass, has been blockaded by Iran since the outbreak of hostilities, driving up energy prices and rattling global markets.