{"id":99399,"date":"2026-05-05T20:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/99399\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T20:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:29:23","slug":"us-says-ceasefire-with-iran-is-holding-despite-attacks-in-the-strait-of-hormuz-and-against-the-uae-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/99399\/","title":{"rendered":"US says ceasefire with Iran is holding despite attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and against the UAE"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI \u2013 U.S. military leaders said a ceasefire is still in effect a day after Iran was blamed for new attacks<\/a> in the Strait of Hormuz and against the United Arab Emirates, a key American ally that later said it came under Iranian drone and missile attack again Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Still, the fragile truce reached nearly a month ago appeared to be holding<\/a> as U.S. forces pressed ahead with efforts to reopen the strait, a vital waterway for global energy. On Monday, the U.S. said it had opened a lane and sunk six small Iranian boats that had threatened commercial ships.<\/p>\n

So far, only two merchant ships are known to have passed through the new U.S.-guarded route, with hundreds more bottled up in the Persian Gulf. Shippers are still wary, and it’s unclear whether U.S. military action can reassure them without reigniting the conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s effective closure of the strait, through which major oil and gas supplies passed before the war, along with fertilizer and other petroleum products<\/a>, has sent fuel prices skyrocketing and rattled the global economy<\/a>. Breaking Iran’s grip would deny its main source of leverage as U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> demands a major rollback of its disputed nuclear program.<\/p>\n

Iran says new US effort violates ceasefire<\/p>\n

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the U.S. military\u2019s top officer, told a news conference Tuesday that Iran\u2019s renewed attacks had not reached the threshold of what Caine called \u201cmajor combat operations.\u201d He said Tuesday marked a \u201cquieter\u201d day in the strait.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, the ceasefire is not over,\u201d Hegseth said, affirming Caine\u2019s assessment. They spoke before the latest attacks on the UAE.<\/p>\n

At the White House, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said clashes with Iran related to American efforts to reopen the straight were \u201cdefensive in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no shooting unless we\u2019re shot at first, OK?” Rubio said. \u201cWe\u2019re not attacking them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran has said the new effort violates the ceasefire. Iran\u2019s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, signaled that Iran has yet to fully respond to the U.S. attempt to reopen the waterway.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; while we have not even begun yet,\u201d he said in a post on X. His statement did not mention negotiations with the U.S. that are now in the form of passing messages via Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Disputing Washington\u2019s claim of sinking six boats, an Iranian military commander said two small civilian cargo boats were hit Monday, killing five civilians, Iran\u2019s state TV reported.<\/p>\n

Caine, the top U.S. general who serves as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more than 100 U.S. military aircraft are patrolling skies around the strait. The U.S. has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports since April 13, depriving Tehran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has cited the April 8 ceasefire in asserting that the president<\/a> does not have to give a formal update to Congress on the war under the War Powers Resolution. That law typically requires presidents to seek formal approval from Congress for war activities 60 days after beginning military action.<\/p>\n

Shippers remain wary<\/p>\n

So far, just two civilian vessels, both U.S.-flagged merchant ships, are known to have passed through the strait as part of the lane the U.S. says it has created. Shipping company Maersk said one of them, a vehicle carrier that it operates, exited the strait safely Monday with U.S. military assistance.<\/p>\n

Former military officers who have served on the strait have said opening it would be dangerous and highly challenging<\/a>, even with military escorts, which the U.S. is not providing now.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s little room to maneuver in the waterway that is just 21 miles (34 kilometers) wide<\/a>, and Iran can reach all of the strait and its approaches with cruise missiles. It also can target vessels with longer-range missiles, drones, fast attack craft and mines.<\/p>\n

Hapag-Lloyd AG, one of the world\u2019s largest container shipping companies, said in a statement that its risk assessment \u201cremains unchanged\u201d and that transits through the strait “are for the moment not possible for our ships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran has attacked ships that try to transit without going through its own route in the northern part of the strait along the Iranian coastline. That involves being vetted by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and in some cases making a payment.<\/p>\n

The U.S.-approved route goes through territorial waters of Oman to the south.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor shipping companies and for insurance companies, they still have to wait and see how this plays out,\u201d said Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal Middle East analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis initiative alone isn\u2019t something that looks like it\u2019s going to open the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The UAE bore the brunt of Iran\u2019s retaliation<\/p>\n

The United Arab Emirates said Monday its air defenses had engaged 15 missiles and four drones fired by Iran. Authorities in the eastern emirate of Fujairah said one drone sparked a fire at a key oil facility, wounding three Indian nationals. The British military reported two cargo vessels ablaze off the UAE, also on Monday.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the UAE’s Defense Ministry said it was responding to another Iranian drone and missile attack. There were no reports of any damage or casualties in the hours after the announcement.<\/p>\n

Iran denied striking the UAE \u201cin recent days,\u201d according to a statement by Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for Iran\u2019s joint military command, that was read Tuesday on state TV.<\/p>\n

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the targeting of UAE civilians and infrastructure \u201cunacceptable.\u201d Pakistan and Saudi Arabia also condemned the strikes.<\/p>\n

Tehran did not confirm or deny the attacks. But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that the U.S. and the UAE \u201cshould be wary of being dragged back into quagmire.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Finley reported from Washington, and Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI \u2013 U.S. military leaders said a ceasefire is still in effect a day after Iran was blamed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[211,2290,328,38,6433,5637,3636,39,463,16816,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-99399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-persian-gulf","8":"tag-abbas-araghchi","9":"tag-brad-cooper","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-esmail-baghaei","13":"tag-mohammad-bagher-qalibaf","14":"tag-narendra-modi","15":"tag-persian-gulf","16":"tag-religion","17":"tag-shehbaz-sharif","18":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116523864132598378","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}