The US military has engaged Iranian drones, missiles and armed small boats that have targeted civilian vessels under US protection, Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command (Centcom), said at a press conference.
A maritime corridor free of Iranian mines has been established in an effort to allow commercial ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Cooper.
"We have shot down seven small boats, or as they like to call them, 'fast' boats," President Donald Trump wrote in a recent post on Truth Social.
The United Arab Emirates said late this afternoon that Iran had attacked the country with missiles and drones. A fuel plant is on fire and at least three people have been injured, according to local authorities.
Fire on ship
Several incidents were reported by ships in the area on Monday. A tanker was reported to have been hit by projectiles north of the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah, according to the British maritime traffic watchdog UKMTO.
An explosion and subsequent fire were also reported aboard a South Korean ship, Yonhap news agency reports, citing the country's foreign ministry. It is unclear whether this is an attack.
Earlier on Monday, the pro-regime Fars news agency claimed that a US frigate had been fired upon, which the US military quickly denied. “No ships from the US Navy have been hit,” Centcom responded to X.
About an hour later , Centcom stated that as a first step in the new operation Project Freedom, it had ensured that "two US-flagged merchant ships successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz."
The oil price rose
The concern and market reactions caused the oil price to rise to over $113 per barrel during the evening, up from levels around $106 per barrel during overnight trading.
The US says it has established an “enhanced security zone” south of the regular shipping lanes in Hormuz, with the northern side in Iranian waters and the southern side in Oman. Iran responded on Monday by declaring a “zone of control” that will extend even further south, past Oman and into the United Arab Emirates.
Iran's military also warned all foreign forces, especially the "aggressive US military," on Monday morning that ships approaching Hormuz would be attacked. The warning came from Major General Ali Abdollahi via state-run IRIB television.
