The U.S. and Iran exchanged fire near the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, adding new strain to the ceasefire and raising questions about negotiations to end the war. Hours later the United Arab Emirates, a key Gulf ally of the U.S., said it was responding to a missile and drone attack. President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the attacks happened as three U.S. military ships were transiting through the strait. “There was no damage done to the three Destroyers, but great damage done to the Iranian attackers. They were completely destroyed along with numerous small boats,” he wrote. On Friday, U.S. Central Command said it had fired on two more tankers that allegedly violated its blockade of Iranian ports. The attacks highlighted the fragility of the ceasefire in the area around the Strait of Hormuz, which 20% of the world’s oil used to pass through before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. No ships transited the strait Thursday, the second day in a row that the critical waterway has had no traffic at all. Trump said in an interview with ABC News on Thursday: “The ceasefire is going. It’s in effect.” He added, “It’s just a love tap.” Trump later told a group of reporters that peace talks with Iran were “going very well, but they have to understand if it doesn’t get signed, they’re going to have a lot of pain.” Trump said a proposal had been given to Iran that included an agreement that it would not have nuclear weapons and that it would give “the nuclear dust” to the U.S. “Yeah, they’ve agreed. But when they agree, it doesn’t mean much, because the next day they forget,” he said. Trump said a deal “might not happen, but it could happen any day.” A U.S. official told NBC News that the U.S. strikes in Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island on Thursday were defensive and do not constitute a resumption of major combat operations against Iran. U.S. Central Command said that three U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers came under attack as they transited the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman and responded with “self-defense strikes.” The Iranian military said it fired at U.S. military ships only after the U.S. military violated the ceasefire and attacked an Iranian oil tanker. “The Iranian military said it fired at U.S. military ships only after the U.S. military violated the ceasefire and attacked an Iranian oil tanker,” said the spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military command headquarters. The spokesman also said the U.S. had carried out air attacks on “civilian areas” along Iran’s coast and Qeshm Island. Iran’s state-owned Press TV later reported that following the exchange of fire, the situation on Iran’s islands and in coastal cities near the Strait of Hormuz was “back to normal now.”
