DUBAI, May 8: The U.S. military said it fired on Iranian forces and sank six small boats targeting civilian ships as it moved to reopen the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. The United Arab Emirates, a key American ally, said it had come under attack from Iran for the first time since a fragile ceasefire took hold in early April.
The U.S. military said two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the strait on Monday as part of a new initiative.
No vessel can transit Strait of Hormuz without Iran's permissio...
The UAE Defense Ministry said its air defenses had engaged 15 missiles and four drones fired by Iran. Authorities in the eastern emirate of Fujairah said one drone sparked a fire at a key oil facility, wounding three Indian nationals. The British military reported two cargo vessels ablaze off the UAE.
Tehran did not outright confirm or deny the attacks but early on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that both the U.S. and the UAE “should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire.”
In similarly vague terms, Iranian state television earlier quoted an anonymous military official as saying Tehran had had “no plan” to target the UAE or one of its oil fields.
“The incident resulted from U.S. military adventurism to create an illegal passage,” the official said about the oil facility attack, apparently referring to U.S. President Donald Trump ‘s latest efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global energy.
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