US strikes Iranian fast boats as Iran attacks UAE oil facility

Shipping company Maersk says one of its US-flagged commercial vessels has successfully exited the Strait of Hormuz under US military protection. 12 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google George Wright and James Chater President Donald Trump says the US has struck seven Iranian "fast boats" in the Strait of Hormuz, as Washington seeks to guide stranded ships out of the Gulf through the largely closed waterway. 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. Shipping company Maersk told the BBC that one of its US-flagged vessels had successfully exited the strait with US military protection - under what Trump has called "Project Freedom".

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that events in the strait "make clear that there's no military solution to a political crisis". The Strait of Hormuz has remained largely blocked since the US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran in February. 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. Trump said: "We've shot down seven small boats or, as they like to call them, 'fast' boats. Iranian state media later disputed Trump's 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. The US earlier said navy destroyers and US-flagged merchant ships sailed through the strait on Monday. Iran called the claims "entirely false", with its military saying it fired warning shots at a US warship. The US military denied this. 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.

In a statement, the firm added: "The vessel subsequently exited the Persian Gulf accompanied by US military assets." Meanwhile, the UAE's 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. UAE authorities also reported air defences had engaged 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four drones. India's foreign ministry said the three injured people were Indian nationals and that the attack on Fujairah was "unacceptable". Iranian state TV has quoted an unnamed military official as saying that Iran had "no plans to target the UAE".

International leaders have condemned the attacks on UAE infrastructure. Fujairah lies on the UAE's eastern coast on the Gulf of Oman, beyond the Strait of Hormuz. 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. United Arab Emirates Iran Shipping company Maersk says one of its US-flagged commercial vessels has successfully exited the Strait of Hormuz under US military protection. US strikes Iranian fast boats as Iran attacks UAE oil facility