Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates said it responded to another Iranian missile barrage on Friday, hours after the U.S. said it traded fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest blows to a shaky month-old ceasefire.
The UAE’s Defense Ministry said three people were wounded after air defenses engaged two ballistic missiles and three drones launched by Iran. It was not clear if all were successfully intercepted. Authorities told people to stay away from any fallen debris.
The U.S. said it thwarted attacks on three Navy ships and struck Iranian military facilities in the strait. Iran has mostly blocked the critical waterway for global energy since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, causing a global spike in fuel prices and rattling world markets.
The U.S. military said Friday that its forces had fired upon and disabled two more Iranian tankers that were trying to breach an American blockade of Iran’s ports.
U.S. President Donald Trump played down the exchange of fire on Thursday, calling the U.S. strikes a “love tap” in a phone call with ABC. But he reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran doesn’t accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. strikes were a “clear violation” of the ceasefire.
The violence came as Washington awaited a response from Tehran in negotiations to end the war. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters he expects to hear from Iran later Friday.
“I hope it’s a serious offer,” Rubio told reporters. “I really do.”
The U.S. says it responded to an attack in the strait
The U.S. military said it had intercepted Iranian attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz late Thursday and “targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces.” The U.S. military said none of its ships were hit.
“They threaten Americans, they are going to be blown up,” Rubio told reporters Friday.
Iranian state media said the country’s forces exchanged fire with “the enemy” on Qeshm Island in the strait. It also reported loud noises and continuous defensive fire in western Tehran late Thursday.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning what it called “hostile” U.S. military action against two Iranian oil tankers near the Iranian port of Jask and the strait, as well as strikes on nearby coastal areas.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country has been in contact with the U.S. and Iran “day and night” in an effort to extend the ceasefire and reach a peace deal.
Meanwhile, direct talks between Israel and Lebanon were scheduled to resume next week in Washington, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans for the closed-door meetings. The official said talks will be held May 14 and 15.
A nominal ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group has also been repeatedly challenged, including by ongoing fighting in southern Lebanon.
Images show apparent oil slick off Iranian terminal
Satellite images reviewed by The Associated Press show what appears to be an oil slick in the Persian Gulf emanating from the western side of Kharg Island, Iran’s primary crude export terminal.
The images taken Wednesday show the slick covering roughly 95 square kilometers (36 square miles). Windward AI, a maritime intelligence firm, said it first detected the spill in satellite images taken Tuesday and the slick was spreading southwest with the wind at a rate of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) an hour.
“If the slick continues drifting southward, there could also be risks to ecologically sensitive and protected marine areas in the Gulf,” said Nina Noelle, an international crisis operations expert with Greenpeace Germany.
The Pentagon declined to comment on whether the U.S. military was tracking the spill or whether there had been recent strikes on the Iranian island. Based on the imagery taken earlier this week, the spill occurred before the most recent round of U.S. strikes.
U.S. says it’s unacceptable for an Iranian agency to control strait
Rubio said Friday that it’s “unacceptable” for Iran to have a government agency that vets and taxes ships seeking passage through the strait.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a shipping data company, reported Thursday that Iran has created the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, an agency that is “positioning itself as the only valid authority to grant permission to ships transiting the strait.”
The Iranian effort to formalize control over the channel raised new concerns about international shipping, with hundreds of commercial vessels bottled up in the Persian Gulf and unable to reach the open sea.
“Is the world going to accept that Iran now controls an international waterway?” Rubio said. “What is the world prepared to do about it?”
Iran has effectively closed the strait, a vital waterway for the shipment of oil, gas, fertilizer and other petroleum products, while the U.S. is blockading Iranian ports.
A Chinese-crewed oil tanker was attacked near the strait. China has continued to import oil from Iran despite the effective closure of the waterway.
China’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern, saying the tanker was registered in the Marshall Islands with Chinese crew on board. There were no casualties reported.
An oil tanker that passed through the Strait of Hormuz in mid-April arrived off South Korea’s coast on Friday with 1 million barrels of crude. South Korea, which last year imported more than 60% of its crude through the strait, has capped prices of gasoline and other petroleum products.
