{"id":209886,"date":"2026-05-06T05:58:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T05:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-iran-uae-trade-hormuz-attack-claims-what-we-know-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T05:58:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T05:58:03","slug":"us-iran-uae-trade-hormuz-attack-claims-what-we-know-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-iran-uae-trade-hormuz-attack-claims-what-we-know-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Iran, UAE trade Hormuz attack claims: What we know – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts say claims and counterclaims threaten the diplomatic route to end the US-Israel war on Iran.<\/em>
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US, Iran trade threats over Strait of Hormuz as attack on UAE condemned
Tensions in the Gulf have spiralled this week after the United States and Iran both claimed to have fired on and damaged each other\u2019s ships despite a ceasefire in the US-Israel war on Iran<\/a>.
After US President Donald Trump announced a US plan to \u201cguide\u201d ships stranded in the Gulf out through the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> in an operation he called Project Freedom<\/a>, Iran said ships trying to use the strait without permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would be fired on, igniting fears of a return to war.<\/p>\n

Trump did not provide any details about how US forces planned to ensure safe passage for commercial ships. About 2,000 ships are currently stranded on either side of the strait, which has been almost completely closed since the start of the war on February 28.
On Monday, Iran\u2019s Fars News Agency reported that a US warship that had refused to turn back from the Strait of Hormuz had been hit by two Iranian drones. The US military\u2019s Central Command (CENTCOM) denied a warship had been hit and conversely claimed it had sunk vessels belonging to the IRGC. Iran, which denied that any IRGC vessels had been hit, issued a map of the strait that showed new boundaries of the area under its control that were farther to the east than before and included the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates, sparking fears of a new regional confrontation.
The UAE later accused Iran of attacking the eastern emirate of Fujairah with a barrage of missiles and drones, setting an oil refinery ablaze and wounding three Indian nationals.
The recent claims and counterclaims made by the US and Iran follow rhetoric used since early in the war in which both sides have claimed to have hit the other while denying any damage to their own assets.
On Monday, Trump said US forces would begin escorting stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz, signalling a direct challenge to Iran\u2019s closure of the strategic waterway, through which 20 percent of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies are shipped in peacetime. Iran\u2019s threats to attack ships in effect have blockaded the strait since US-Israeli attacks started on February 28.
The closure of the vital maritime corridor has sent oil and fertiliser prices surging around the world and prompted fears of a global recession and food emergency.
In response, the US began its own naval blockade of Iranian ports on April 13.
Trump said operation Project Freedom was being mounted at the behest of countries whose vessels remain stuck on either side of the strait, and which he described as \u201cneutral and innocent bystanders\u201d.
\u201cThe Ship movement is merely meant to free up people, companies, and Countries that have done absolutely nothing wrong \u2013 They are victims of circumstance,\u201d Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, calling it a \u201chumanitarian gesture\u201d.
Fars reported that a US warship had been hit by two Iranian drones after it refused orders to turn back from the strait. CENTCOM denied this, however.
The claim has not been verified by any independent observers.
\u201cThe Iranian leadership feel they need to match President Trump\u2019s escalation with their own escalation,\u201d Shahram Akbarzadeh, a professor in Middle East and Central Asian politics at Australia\u2019s Deakin University, told Al Jazeera.
\u201cIf the Iranians cannot benefit from export revenue due to the US blockade, they want to inflict the same economic pain on the US and its regional allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement on Monday, US Admiral Brad Cooper said CENTCOM forces sank six IRGC vessels that had tried to interfere with Project Freedom. Trump later said seven boats had been hit.
On Tuesday, the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, quoting an unnamed Iranian military commander, reported Tehran had launched an investigation after the US allegations of vessel attacks.
IRIB reported no IRGC vessels had been hit but its investigation had determined that US forces had \u201cattacked two small boats carrying people on their way from Khasab on the coast of Oman to the coast of Iran on Monday\u201d.
The attacks destroyed the boats and killed five civilian passengers, the commander said. The US \u201cmust be held accountable for their crime\u201d, the commander added.
The US has not commented on this, and the claim has not been verified by any independent observers.<\/p>\n

The UAE accused Iran<\/a> of attacks on Fujairah that caused a fire at an oil refinery. The Ministry of Defence said its air defences \u201cengaged\u201d 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four drones launched from Iran on Monday.
The claim has not been verified by independent observers.
On Tuesday, IRIB quoted a military official as saying: \u201cThe Islamic Republic had no preplanned programme to attack the mentioned oil facilities, and what happened was the result of US military adventurism aimed at creating a passage for the illegal transit of ships through the restricted waterways of the Strait of Hormuz. The US military must be held accountable for this.\u201d
The official called on the US to end the \u201cimproper practice\u201d of using force in the diplomatic process and to stop \u201cmilitary adventurism in this sensitive oil region, which affects the economies of countries around the world\u201d.
Akbarzadeh said the \u201cattack on Fujairah\u201d represented an example of Iran \u201cspreading the pain\u201d.
The attack \u2013 if indeed carried out by Iran \u2013 would mark the first on the UAE since a ceasefire agreed by Tehran and Washington went into effect on April 8.
The UAE\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in the \u201cstrongest terms the renewed terrorist, unprovoked Iranian attacks targeting civilian sites and facilities in the country\u201d.
It said it will not tolerate any threat to the UAE\u2019s security and sovereignty and warned that it reserves the \u201cfull and legitimate right to respond\u201d to the attacks.
Akbarzadeh said the latest developments pose a serious threat to any diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
\u201cWe see escalation after escalation against the backdrop of shuttle diplomacy,\u201d Akbarzadeh said.
\u201cSuch attacks, even if they are aimed to be contained, risk exploding into another major combat.\u201d
Akbarzadeh said neither the Americans nor the Iranians want war. But, equally, neither are prepared to show weakness, he said.
\u201cThis dynamic has locked them in a perpetual conflict and in desperate need of a circuit breaker. Pakistan is trying to offer that circuit breaker with limited success.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Experts say claims and counterclaims threaten the diplomatic route to end the US-Israel war on Iran.SaveShareUS, Iran trade threats over Strait of Hormuz as attack on UAE condemnedTensions in the Gulf have spiralled this week after the United States and Iran both claimed to have fired on and damaged each other\u2019s ships despite a ceasefire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-209886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}