Tensions flare over Trump’s Hormuz plan

Tensions rose in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday as both the United States and Iran claimed attacks on vessels, with Donald Trump warning Iran that its forces would be “blown off the face of the earth” if they targeted US ships guiding vessels through the strait.

A top US admiral said the US shot down multiple Iranian missiles and drones fired at US Navy and commercial vessels and destroyed six of Tehran’s small boats.

US Apache and Seahawk helicopters hit “six Iranian small boats threatening commercial shipping,” Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), told journalists.

US forces also “effectively engaged” all “missiles and drones that were fired at both us and the commercial ships,” Cooper said.

Some cruise missiles were launched at US Navy ships, but most of them, as well as multiple drones, targeted commercial vessels, he said.

In a post on his Truth Social Platform, Trump put the number of Iranian boats struck at seven and said “there has been, at this moment, no damage going through the Strait” aside from a South Korean ship that was hit, about which he provided no further details.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump also said he sees two paths forward in his war: either reaching a good-faith deal or resuming military operations.

He told Fox News that the ongoing US naval blockade was “one of the greatest military manoeuvres ever done” and that the Iranians were being “far more malleable” in recent talks than before.

Trump caused worldwide outrage the last time he made similar threats, writing on social media last month that “a whole civilisation will die” if Iran failed to comply with his demands. He also previously threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages” and to blow up all of the country’s bridges and power plants.

Iranian state television, meanwhile, quoted a senior military official from the country as saying: “The US claim that it sank a number of Iranian war boats is false.”

After weeks of relative calm in the region, the United Arab Emirates yesterday said a drone strike caused a fire at an energy installation in the emirate of Fujairah.

Fujairah is home to a major port, pipeline and other petroleum based installations bypassing the throttled Strait of Hormuz.

US and Israeli forces launched the war against Iran on February 28, after which the Islamic republic closed the Strait of Hormuz -- a vital route for oil and gas exports -- while American forces later launched a blockade of Iranian ports.

Iranian state television said earlier that the country’s navy had fired cruise missiles, rockets and combat drones near US destroyers moving through the strait in what it described as a “warning shot.”

CENTCOM said that two US guided-missile destroyers had passed through the strait into the Gulf as part of “Project Freedom,” while two US-flagged merchant vessels transited the opposite way and “are safely headed on their journey.”

Negotiations between Washington and Tehran have been deadlocked since a ceasefire in the US-Israeli war against Iran took effect on April 8, with Tehran’s stranglehold on the strait a main point of contention.

“For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these (non-combatant) Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways,” Trump posted on Truth Social, saying operations would begin on Monday.

Once out, “they will not be returning until the area becomes safe for navigation,” Trump added.

As of April 29, more than 900 commercial vessels were located in the Gulf, according to maritime intelligence firm AXSMarine.

In response to Trump, the Iranian military’s central command said any safe passage through Hormuz must be coordinated with its forces “under all circumstances”.

In the early hours of yesterday, the British maritime agency UKMTO also reported an attack on a tanker off the UAE with “unknown projectiles”.

Later in the day, the UAE said Iran had fired drones at a tanker affiliated with its state-owned oil giant ADNOC.

By blocking the strait, Iran has choked off major flows of oil, gas and fertiliser to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

Speaking yesterday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran’s “priority is to end the war” but blamed the US for a lack of progress.

“The other side must commit to a reasonable approach and abandon its excessive demands,” he said.

He had earlier said Washington had responded to the 14-point plan in a message to Pakistani mediators.

Trump declined on Sunday to specify what could trigger new US military action.

But in his post on the Hormuz plan, he said that “if in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully”.