US strikes Iranian fast boats as Iran attacks UAE oil facility<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump says the US has struck seven Iranian \u201cfast boats\u201d in the Strait of Hormuz, as Washington seeks to guide stranded ships out of the Gulf through the largely closed waterway.<\/p>\n
The UAE and South Korea both reported strikes on ships in the vital channel on Monday. The UAE also said a fire broke out at the oil port of Fujairah after an Iranian attack.<\/p>\n
Shipping company Maersk told the BBC that one of its US-flagged vessels had successfully exited the strait with US military protection \u2013 under what Trump has called \u201cProject Freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that events in the strait \u201cmake clear that there\u2019s no military solution to a political crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cProject Freedom is Project Deadlock.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maersk said the transit of one of its commercial vessels was \u201ccompleted without incident, and all crew members are safe and unharmed\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Strait of Hormuz has remained largely blocked since the US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran in February. Tehran responded by blocking the crucial waterway through which 20% of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas usually passes.<\/p>\n
In early April, the US and Iran announced a ceasefire under which Iran ended its drone and missile strikes on Gulf countries including the UAE, but few vessels have been able to transit the strait since then. The US also imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports.<\/p>\n
Trump said: \u201cWe\u2019ve shot down seven small boats or, as they like to call them, \u2018fast\u2019 boats. It\u2019s all they have left.\u201d The US military said it had used helicopters to attack the boats.<\/p>\n
Iranian state media later disputed Trump\u2019s announcement that the US had struck the speed boats. Citing a military source, the Tasnim news agency reported that two small cargo vessels had been hit instead, killing five civilians.<\/p>\n
The US earlier said navy destroyers and US-flagged merchant ships sailed through the strait on Monday. Iran called the claims \u201centirely false\u201d, with its military saying it fired warning shots at a US warship. The US military denied this.<\/p>\n
Later on Monday, shipping firm Maersk said its US-flagged vessel the Alliance Fairfax, which had been stranded in the Gulf since the US and Israeli attack on Iran at the end of February, had exited the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
The firm said it had been contacted by the US and \u201coffered the opportunity for the vessel to exit the Gulf under US military protection\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the firm added: \u201cThe vessel subsequently exited the Persian Gulf accompanied by US military assets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the UAE\u2019s foreign ministry reported a tanker affiliated with Adnoc, its state-owned oil company, was hit in the Strait of Hormuz. South Korea also reported an explosion on one of its ships anchored just off the UAE.<\/p>\n
UAE authorities also reported air defences had engaged 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four drones. Local officials said one strike caused a large fire and three injuries at its key oil port of Fujairah.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s foreign ministry said the three injured people were Indian nationals and that the attack on Fujairah was \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n
Abu Dhabi called the attacks a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d and said it reserved the right to respond. Iranian state TV has quoted an unnamed military official as saying that Iran had \u201cno plans to target the UAE\u201d.<\/p>\n
International leaders have condemned the attacks on UAE infrastructure.<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron said the strikes were \u201cunjustified and unacceptable\u201d. British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the UK will continue to \u201csupport the defence of our partners in the Gulf\u201d.<\/p>\n
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for an end to the blockade of the strait, saying \u201cTehran must return to the negotiating table and stop holding the region and the world hostage\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a post on X, Saudi Arabia\u2019s foreign ministry called on Iran to \u201crespect the principles of good neighborliness\u201d.<\/p>\n
The benchmark Brent crude oil price passed $115 a barrel shortly after the reports that Fujairah had come under attack, up more than 5% on the day.<\/p>\n
Fujairah lies on the UAE\u2019s eastern coast on the Gulf of Oman, beyond the Strait of Hormuz. A pipeline from the oilfields of Abu Dhabi runs to Fujairah, allowing limited amounts of crude to be loaded on to tankers and shipped to world markets despite the strait being effectively blockaded.<\/p>\n
Neighbouring Qatar condemned the attack on the tanker affiliated with Adnoc and called for the strait\u2019s \u201cunconditional reopening\u201d.<\/p>\n
In Oman, two people were injured when a residential building was targeted in Bukha, along the coastline of the Strait of Hormuz, state media reported on Monday.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Trump said the US would start helping stranded vessels out of the shipping lane as part of \u201cProject Freedom\u201d. An estimated 20,000 seafarers on 2,000 ships have been stuck since the US-Iran war began in February.<\/p>\n
The president said the US had been asked by countries \u201cfrom all over the World\u201d to help free up their ships which were \u201clocked up in the Strait of Hormuz\u201d and were \u201cmerely neutral and innocent bystanders!\u201d.<\/p>\n
There has been growing concern over dwindling supplies and the effects on sailors\u2019 physical and mental health.<\/p>\n
But Trump did not say how they would be able to sail away \u2013 he only threatened to use force \u201cif, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with\u201d.<\/p>\n
hellenicshippingnews…<\/p>\n