Live Updates: U.S. sinks 6 small Iranian boats as Iran launches attacks on UAE and a ship in Strait of Hormuz

U.S. Navy Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of Central Command, confirmed Monday that Iran had launched an attack earlier in the day using cruise missiles, drones, and small boats targeting U.S. commercial and military vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

"The U.S. destroyed six Iranian small boats that attempted to interfere," Cooper was quoted by Reuters news agency as telling reporters on a conference call. He said Iranian vessels were "strongly advised to remain clear of U.S. military assets" in the region.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency rejected the assertion by Cooper, saying none of its so-called "fast boats" were destroyed Monday.

Iranian state media said earlier that forces fired "warning" shots, including missiles and drones, at a U.S. destroyer as it neared the Strait of Hormuz in the Sea of Oman.

CENTCOM said two U.S.-flagged commercial vessels transited the strait Monday under the auspices of Project Freedom, an initiative announced by President Trump on Sunday for the U.S. military to guide ships through the waterway.

Iranian authorities insist the strait is closed and only vessels with explicit permission from its military will be permitted to pass, while U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insisted Monday that the U.S. has full control over the waterway.

Authorities in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, said a fire broke out at the sprawling Fujairah Oil Industry Zone following a suspected Iranian drone attack on Monday.

Civil defense teams were deployed to contain the blaze, the Fujairah Media office said in a statement posted online.

"Three Indian nationals were mildly injured and were taken to hospital," the statement said. 

There was no immediate comment from Iran, but the UAE Ministry of Defense said earlier that Iran had launched at least four cruise missiles at the country, three of which were intercepted over the country's territorial waters, while the fourth fell in the sea. 

The ministry later said "air defenses are dealing with missile and drone attacks coming from Iran."

Air alert sirens blared several times across the UAE on Monday, as Iran launched its first major attacks since a ceasefire with the U.S. came into effect in early April.

The U.K. military's Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO) said Monday that it had received a report that a commercial ship was "on fire and requesting vessels in the vicinity to keep a safe distance" off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

It said the report was related to an unnamed vessel about 14NM west of Mina Saqr, UAE, in the Strait of Hormuz. 

"The cause of the fire has not been verified at this time," said the agency, which gets alerts directly from merchant vessel crews and their operators. 

The UAE government earlier said Iran had launched two drones at a tanker belonging to the state-owned ADNOC energy company in the Strait of Hormuz. The statement did not identify the vessel or confirm whether the drones had made impact, but said there were no immediate reports of casualties on board.

The United Arab Emirates said Iran launched four missiles at its territory on Monday, the first such attack since the U.S. and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in early April, which President Trump later extended indefinitely as he voiced hope for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.

In a statement posted on its official X account, the UAE Ministry of Defense said three Iranian cruise missiles were "successfully handled over the country's territorial waters" while a fourth landed in the sea on Monday.

Iran had targeted the UAE and other U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf with dozens of missiles and drones during open hostilities before the U.S.-Iran ceasefire came into effect on April 8, but tension has risen again in the last 24 hours as both countries seek to show control of the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lanes.

President Trump told U.S. congressional leaders on Friday that "hostilities" with Iran had "terminated" as the war hit the 60-day mark.

"There has been no exchange of fire between the United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026," the president wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate leader Chuck Grassley. "The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026 have terminated." 

The United Arab Emirates official emergency agency said the country's air defenses were working to intercept a "missile threat" on Monday, urging people in the UAE to "remain in a safe place and follow the warnings and updates on official websites."

The warnings had been a virtually daily occurrence during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, but Iran stopped firing missiles and drones at America's Persian Gulf allies after a ceasefire agreement came into effect. 

That deal has halted U.S. strikes on Iran, but little progress toward a full peace agreement has been made as Iran insists an ongoing U.S. naval blockade of its ports and vessels is a violation of the truce. In response, Iran has continued threatening commercial vessels in the Gulf region and denying safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Tension between the countries has escalated since President Trump announced the Project Freedom initiative on Sunday, which he said would see the U.S. military "guide" vessels through the strait.

If it is confirmed that Iran launched missiles at the UAE on Monday, it would be the first such attack since the ceasefire, which Mr. Trump said he was extending indefinitely on April 21 to make room for diplomacy, came into effect.

Last week, Mr. Trump told Congress that "hostilities" with Iran had "terminated" as the war hit the 60-day mark.

"There has been no exchange of fire between the United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026," the president wrote in nearly identical letters to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate leader Chuck Grassley. "The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026 have terminated." 

Iran's state-run news outlets claim the U.S. military lied about helping two commercial vessels to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz on Monday under the newly launched Project Freedom maritime operation.

"No commercial vessels or oil tankers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in recent hours, and the claims made by U.S. officials are baseless and entirely false," IRIB state TV said in a statement it attributed to the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The statement repeated an earlier warning from Iranian officials that any ships attempting to transit the strait "will face serious risks, and violating vessels will be stopped with force."

Hours after President Trump announced Project Freedom, which he said would see the U.S. military "guide" tankers and other commercial vessels long stuck in the Persian Gulf out through the Strait of Hormuz, Central Command said two ships had safely transited the waterway on Monday, along with an unspecified number of U.S. Navy destroyers.

CENTCOM did not name the commercial vessels but said they were U.S.-flagged.

Iran attacked at least one UAE-flagged tanker in the strait on Monday, targeting it with drones, and an explosion was reported on a South Korean vessel, but the cause remained unclear.

The leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah has reiterated the group's rejection of an ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that was brokered by the U.S. 

"There is no ceasefire in Lebanon, but rather continuous Israeli-American aggression," declared Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem in a written statement Monday, vowing that Hezbollah would "remain patient and continue to resist."

The Hezbollah chief argued that Israel "has not implemented a single step of the agreement, violating it more than 10,000 times, killing 500 civilians, wounding hundreds, destroying thousands of homes and livelihoods, and displacing people from their villages."

Israel's on-and-off war with Hezbollah escalated dramatically two days after Israel and the U.S. launched their joint strikes on Iran, on Feb. 28. A barrage of Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon and around the capital Beirut was followed by an ongoing ground invasion. 

Israeli officials say while they are not seeking to permanently annex part of Lebanon, forces will occupy a "security zone" in the country's south, along the Israeli border, indefinitely, until the Hezbollah threat is removed, and that residents will not be allowed to return to their homes south of a declared "yellow line" until then. 

"There is no yellow line or buffer zone, and there will not be," declared Qassem on Monday, accusing Israel of trying to seize land by force. "With our faith and our exclusive choice of reclaiming and liberating our land and refusing surrender, we will certainly succeed in confronting it."

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported clashes on Monday between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in the south.

Israel and Hezbollah have regularly accused each other of violating the ceasefire since it came into effect more than three weeks ago, with both sides claiming to be attacking the other in self defense.

Lebanese authorities say the Israeli operations have killed more than 2,600 people and forced more than 1 million to flee their homes. At least 40 people have been killed in Israel by Iranian and Hezbollah missile and drone attacks since the war began at the end of February.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Monday morning that the U.S. has "absolute control" of the Strait of Hormuz, as he dismissed Iran's navy as "a band of pirates."

"We have blockaded the ships going into or out of Iranian ports," he said of an ongoing U.S. naval blockade in the region, which he said had left the Iranian economy now in "free fall." 

Bessent denied any U.S. cooperation with Iran for the newly launched Project Freedom operation, under which President Trump said the U.S. military would "guide" commercial vessels stuck for months in the Persian Gulf out through the strait.

U.S. Central Command said two American-flagged commercial ships safely navigated the strait on Monday under the program, but Iran attacked at least one other vessel in the strategic waterway, and few ships were seen entering or exiting the strait on tracking websites.

"If the Iranians want to escalate here, we are willing to escalate," warned Bessent, adding that U.S. forces would only be "firing if fired upon." 

On gas prices, Bessent acknowledged what he called a "short term blip up in prices" affecting American consumers, but he predicted prices would "come down very quickly" once shipping resumes in the Strait of Hormuz, likely "in a matter of weeks or a month."

South Korean officials were working to verify "information that a South Korean vessel may have been attacked" Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, the country's state-owned Yonhap news agency reported.

The Korea Herald newspaper reported that a South Korean-flagged cargo ship was hit by an "external impact" in the strait Monday, citing South Korean officials, but that it was unclear whether it was a targeted attack or possibly a sea mine.

Yonhap said the foreign ministry in Seoul was aware of the reports, and that it had no confirmation of any South Korean casualties in the incident. 

The Reuters news agency, citing an unnamed spokesperson with the Seoul-based shipping firm HMM, said a fire had been reported on a bulk carrier owned by the company, but that the cause remained unclear. Reuters said the incident involved an explosion in the vessel's engine room.

Wall Street dipped and oil prices jumped early Monday as Iran launched a new attack on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz and the country's state media said Iranian forces fired warning shots at U.S. warships near the entrance to the waterway.

Futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.2% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5%. Nasdaq futures dipped 0.1%.

Oil prices initially jumped 5% after Iranian media claimed a U.S. ship had been hit by Iranian missiles, but after U.S. Central Command denied the report, prices rebounded slightly, though they were still up between 2% and 3%.

The price of a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude was up $2.18 at $104.12 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped $3.06 to $111.23 a barrel. 

Project Freedom, a U.S. military initiative to help guide ships safely through the strait, got underway Monday, and CENTCOM said two commercial vessels had transited the narrow shipping lane under the guises of the program, along with U.S. Naval destroyers, but it offered no further detail.

The United Arab Emirates government said a tanker was targeted by two Iranian drones Monday in the strait. It was not clear if the vessel had attempted to ensure safe passage in coordination with the U.S. military's Project Freedom. Nobody was injured in the attack, the UAE said.

There were unconfirmed reports that a South Korean commercial vessel may also have been targeted in the strait on Monday.

CBS/AP

Egypt and the Gulf Cooperation Council of six Arab Persian Gulf nations condemned Iran's latest attack on a commercial vessel in the region Monday, which saw a UAE-owned tanker targeted by two Iranian drones.

Egypt said in a statement that it "denounces the blatant attack that targeted a UAE tanker while it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz," calling it a "blatant violation of the principles of international law, which affirm and guarantee freedom of international navigation."

In a separate statement, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), "condemned, in the strongest terms, the treacherous attacks that targeted an Emirati tanker belonging to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) while it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz."

"These brutal Iranian attacks, targeting ships passing through the Strait, constitutes piracy and a serious threat to the security of maritime routes and straits, and represents a flagrant violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions," Albudaiwi said. 

The UAE said earlier that the ADNOC vessel was targeted in the strait but that there were no injuries. It did not say whether the tanker sustained any damage, and it remained unclear whether the vessel had sought to coordinate its passage through the waterway via the new Project Freedom initiative being led by the U.S. military.

Iran's Fars news agency, which is associated with the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard, said Monday that forces launched "cruise missile warning shots" at U.S. Navy destroyers nearing the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz in the Sea of Oman.

U.S. Central Command earlier rejected a claim by Fars, citing local media, that a U.S. frigate had been struck by missiles. 

CENTCOM did not elaborate, but it said U.S. warships had transited the strait as part of "efforts to restore transit for commercial shipping" through the waterway under the Project Freedom initiative announced by President Trump.

The U.S. military also said two American-flagged commercial vessels had transited the strait under the guises of the project, but there was no further information provided on those journeys or how they were supported or guided by U.S. forces.

Fars said Iranian forces first warned the U.S. destroyers verbally, and then "issued a further warning by firing cruise missile warning shots, rockets, and combat drones near the hostile vessels."

The U.S. military did not immediately confirm or deny ships in the Persian Gulf region being subjected to warning fire by Iranian forces.

The U.S. military's Central Command said Monday that forces were "actively assisting efforts to restore transit for commercial shipping" through the Strait of Hormuz, and that Navy destroyers and two U.S.-flagged commercial vessels had safely transited the vital waterway as part of those efforts.

"U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are currently operating in the Arabian Gulf after transiting the Strait of Hormuz in support of Project Freedom," CENTCOM said in a brief social media post. "As a first step, 2 U.S.-flagged merchant vessels have successfully transited through the Strait of Hormuz and are safely headed on their journey."

The post did not make it clear whether the U.S.-flagged commercial ships were escorted by the American destroyers or guided by some other means.

The leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah has reiterated the group's rejection of an ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that was brokered by the U.S. 

"There is no ceasefire in Lebanon, but rather continuous Israeli-American aggression," declared Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem in a written statement Monday, vowing that Hezbollah — a U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist group — would "remain patient and continue to resist."

The Hezbollah chief argued that Israel "has not implemented a single step of the agreement, violating it more than 10,000 times, killing 500 civilians, wounding hundreds, destroying thousands of homes and livelihoods, and displacing people from their villages."

Israel's on-and-off war with Hezbollah escalated dramatically two days after Israel and the U.S. launched their joint strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. A barrage of Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon and around the capital Beirut was followed by an ongoing ground invasion. 

Israeli officials say while they are not seeking to permanently annex part of Lebanon, forces will occupy a "security zone" in the country's south, along the Israeli border, indefinitely, until the Hezbollah threat is removed, and that residents will not be allowed to return to their homes south of a declared "yellow line" until then. 

"There is no yellow line or buffer zone, and there will not be," declared Qassem on Monday, accusing Israel of trying to seize land by force. "With our faith and our exclusive choice of reclaiming and liberating our land and refusing surrender, we will certainly succeed in confronting it."

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported clashes on Monday between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in the south.

Israel and Hezbollah have regularly accused each other of violating the ceasefire since it came into effect more than three weeks ago, with both sides claiming to be attacking the other in self defense.

Lebanese authorities say the Israeli operations have killed more than 2,600 people and forced more than 1 million to flee their homes. At least 40 people have been killed in Israel by Iranian and Hezbollah missile and drone attacks since the war began at the end of February.

The government of the United Arab Emirates said Monday that a tanker owned by the Abu Dhabi state energy giant ADNOC was targeted by two drones as it attempted to transit the Strait of Hormuz, condemning "in the strongest terms" what it called an "Iranian terrorist attack."

Two drones targeted the carrier "affiliated with ADNOC as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz, with no injuries reported," the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, without providing any further details.

"The Ministry emphasized that targeting commercial shipping and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of economic coercion or blackmail represents acts of piracy by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, and constitutes a direct threat to the stability of the region, its peoples, and global energy security," the statement said.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the tanker, which was not identified by name, had made it through the strait, or if it had attempted to coordinate passage with the U.S. military or Omani authorities under the newly launched Project Freedom.

President Trump said the project would see the U.S. military "guide" vessels through the waterway, but it wasn't clear exactly how that would be carried out. 

The U.S. military's Central Command said early Monday that it had established an "enhanced security area" south of the usual shipping routes through the strait, and it urged mariners to coordinate closely with Omani authorities "due to anticipated high traffic volume."

Pakistan said Monday it had facilitated the transfer of 22 crew members from a U.S.-seized Iranian vessel, describing the move as a "confidence-building measure" amid fragile diplomatic contacts between Washington and Tehran.

The sailors, who had been held aboard the container ship Touska, were flown into Islamabad late Sunday and were due to be handed over to Iranian authorities, according to a statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry.

Iranian state media said Monday that 15 crew members from the Touska had been "returned to Iran," but their whereabouts remained unconfirmed.

The handover comes amid a tense standoff in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, where U.S. forces intercepted the Iranian-flagged cargo ship.

Iran condemned the ship's seizure as "piracy" and a violation of an April ceasefire and urged the United Nations to intervene.

Pakistan has positioned itself as a mediator between the U.S. and Iran, hosting the only round of direct talks between the two sides since the U.S. and Israel launched their joint war with Iran on Feb. 28. Islamabad has tried for weeks to orchestrate a second round of talks, but thus far the Trump administration has refused to accept Iran's demands for such negotiations, and Tehran says it won't talk until the U.S. blockade of its ports is lifted.

The transfer of the Touska crew was coordinated with both sides, Pakistan said, reflecting a rare instance of practical cooperation despite wider tensions over sanctions, shipping routes and regional security.

The vessel itself is expected to be returned after repairs. 

CBS/AFP

A spokesperson for the U.S. military's Central Command, Captain Tim Hawkins, told CBS News on Monday that claims by Iranian media outlets that an American warship had been struck by two missiles near the Strait of Hormuz were not true.

Hawkins did not provide any further detail, but he rejected the report by Iran's Fars news agency, which is associated with the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guard forces, that U.S. Navy frigate was struck on Monday amid an increasingly tense standoff between the countries in the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. military said it launched an operation Monday under the name Project Freedom, under which President Trump says commercial vessels stuck in the Gulf can be guided out by the U.S. military via the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has warned that any ship trying to navigate the narrow strait without its explicit permission will be targeted.

CENTCOM later issued a brief statement on social media reiterating Hawkins' rejection of the Iranian report, saying: "No U.S. Navy ships have been struck. U.S. forces are supporting Project Freedom and enforcing the naval blockade on Iranian ports."

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on the U.S. and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in a "coordinated" way, indicating that his country won't join an effort announced by President Trump to "guide" commercial vessels out of the Persian Gulf under the threat of Iranian attack.

"What we want above all is a coordinated reopening by the United States and Iran — that is the only solution for reopening the Strait of Hormuz," Macron told fellow European leaders during a meeting on Monday in Armenia.

"We are not going to take part in any military operation in a framework that to me seems unclear," he said.

France and the U.K. have led efforts to build a coalition of nations to deploy military assets to the region to ensure the strait remains open and safe for shipping once peace is secured, but European countries have declined to take up those efforts until a deal is reached to end the war.

Brigadier General Mohbi, a spokesman for Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, warned Monday that any vessel trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz without adhering to the regime's "transit protocols," which require coordination for passage "through designated routes with coordination," will "face serious risks."

"Violating vessels will be stopped with force," said Mohbi in a message shared by Iranian state media. 

It was the latest direct challenge from the Iranian regime to a plan announced by President Trump for a "humanitarian" military operation for American warships to "guide" commercial vessels out of the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz. 

Dozens of tankers and cargo ships have been stuck in the Gulf for months as Tehran, in retaliation for the joint U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, has declared the strait — long an open international waterway vital to the transport of gas and oil — under its control, and attacked ships that don't get its permission to use it. 

While an ongoing ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has ended American strikes on the country, the U.S. has imposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports and vessels, which Tehran considers a breach of the truce. Iran has responded by maintaining its threat to commercial shipping, which has kept oil and gas prices high and fueled inflation around the globe.

The United States kicked off an effort to "guide" stranded ships from the Iran-gripped Strait of Hormuz, as it tries to counter economic disruptions that outlasted the peak of fighting with no peace deal in sight.

A day after President Trump announced what he called Project Freedom, the Joint Maritime Information Center said Monday that the U.S. had set up an "enhanced security area" south of typical shipping routes and urged mariners to coordinate closely with Omani authorities "due to anticipated high traffic volume." The strait sits between Iranian and Omani territory.

The center warned that passing close to the usual routes, known as the traffic separation scheme, "should be considered extremely hazardous due the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated."

The U.S.-led maritime task force's announcement marked the start of the effort to revive traffic and restore confidence among commercial vessels transiting the strait.

The disruption of the waterway through which roughly one‑fifth of the world's oil typically passes has become one of the most enduring consequences of the war that the U.S. and Israel launched Feb. 28. It has squeezed countries in Europe and Asia that depend on Persian Gulf supplies and added new volatility to energy prices for households and businesses worldwide. 

Iran's military said Monday that U.S. forces would be attacked if they entered the Strait of Hormuz, after President Trump announced Washington would begin escorting ships through the blocked waterway.

"We warn that any foreign armed force — especially the aggressive U.S. military — if they intend to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz, will be targeted and attacked," said Major General Ali Abdollahi of the Iranian military's central command, in a statement carried by state broadcaster IRIB.

"We have repeatedly stated that the security of the Strait of Hormuz is under the control of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and under all circumstances, any safe passage must be coordinated with these forces," he added.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday the United States faced a choice between an "impossible" military operation or a deal with Tehran, after President Trump disparaged Iran's latest peace proposal.

Iran's foreign ministry said Tehran had submitted a 14-point plan "focused on ending the war" and that Washington had already responded to it in a message to Pakistani mediators, which Iran was reviewing. 

Project Freedom, the effort announced by President Trump to help merchant vessels get through the Strait of Hormuz, will include "guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members," U.S. Central Command said Sunday night.

Further details on what the operation would involve were not provided. 

President Trump on Sunday said an effort to guide ships from countries not involved in the war with Iran safely out of the Strait of Hormuz, dubbed Project Freedom, will begin Monday. 

"For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"In all cases, they said they will not be returning until the area becomes safe for navigation," Mr. Trump wrote.

The president said the effort is a "Humanitarian gesture on behalf of the United States, Middle Eastern Countries but, in particular, the Country of Iran," noting that the ships are running low on food and other essential supplies.

"If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully," Mr. Trump concluded.