The attacks appeared to be in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest efforts to reopen the strait, a critical waterway for global energy. They came after the U.S. military said two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the strait on Monday. (Satellite image of strait shown above.)
The UAE Defense Ministry said Iran had launched four cruise missiles, with three shot down and one falling into the sea. Authorities in the eastern emirate of Fujairah said an Iranian drone sparked a fire at a key oil facility, wounding three Indian nationals. The British military reported two cargo vessels ablaze off the UAE.
Breaking Iran’s chokehold on the strait would ease global economic concerns and deny Tehran a major source of leverage. But such efforts also risk reigniting the full-scale fighting.
Iran's effective closure of the strait, which runs between Iran and Oman, has caused a spike in worldwide fuel prices. The U.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center had advised ships Monday to cross the strait in Oman’s waters, saying it had set up an “enhanced security area.”
Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters that American forces have successfully opened a passage through the strait that is free of Iranian mines. He said Iran launched multiple cruise missiles, drones and small boats at civilian ships under the U.S. military’s protection.
U.S. military helicopters sank six of the small boats, Cooper said, adding that “each and every” threat had been defeated.
Trump had warned Sunday that Iranian efforts to halt passage through the strait “will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully.”
He described “Project Freedom” in humanitarian terms, designed to aid stranded seafarers on hundreds of ships that have been stuck in the Persian Gulf since the war began. Crews have described to The Associated Press seeing drones and missiles explode over the waters earlier in the war as their vessels run low on drinking water, food and other supplies.
Iran’s military command on Monday said ships passing through the strait must coordinate with them.
