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<\/p>\nThe U.S. military responded late Thursday for the first time since the start of the strikes in Iran, saying: \u201cOur forces intercepted Iranian attacks and responded to attacks against U.S. destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz. The forces struck Iranian military facilities in self-defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not interested in escalation, but are prepared to defend our forces,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n
Documentation of air defense operating in western Tehran<\/p>\n
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The statement also said the U.S. military thwarted Iranian attacks Wednesday. \u201cIranian forces launched several missiles, drones and small boats as U.S. vessels passed through the international maritime passage. The U.S. military struck Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces, including missile and drone launch sites, command and control sites, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Truth Social, Trump said three U.S. Navy destroyers were fired on while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. He added the ships were not damaged, while claiming \u201cgreat damage\u201d was inflicted on the Iranian attackers.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Fars news agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported Thursday evening on explosions near the port of Bandar Abbas and on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. The mysterious explosions in southern Iran come three days after Tehran fired missiles at the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
It was initially claimed that the explosions stemmed from activity by the Revolutionary Guards\u2019 navy, but Fars later offered a different and more dramatic version, saying there had been \u201can exchange of fire between Iranian forces and the enemy.\u201d According to that report, Bahman pier on Qeshm Island was hit. Meanwhile, Mehr news agency reported that \u201ctwo hostile aircraft were destroyed in the skies over Bandar Abbas and Qeshm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, near 1 a.m. Iran\u2019s Mehr news agency is reporting that sounds of explosions are now being heard along the coast of Sirik, in southern Iran.<\/p>\n
Shortly afterward, Iran\u2019s Press TV reported that the situation on Iranian islands and in coastal cities along the Strait of Hormuz had \u201creturned to normal\u201d following the exchange of fire. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n 4 View gallery <\/p>\n Bin Zayed and Khamenei: Emirates’ response to Iranian missiles?<\/p>\n (Photos: AP, Amirhosein Khorgooi\/ISNA\/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)<\/p>\n Israel denied any connection to the incidents in southern Iran, and two senior Iranian officials later accused the United Arab Emirates of carrying out the attack. Speaking to The New York Times, they hinted that it was revenge by Abu Dhabi for the Iranian attack against it three days earlier. <\/p>\n Later, however, Fox News reported that the strikes were actually carried out by the United States. A senior U.S. official clarified that the strikes on Qeshm Island and in Bandar Abbas \u201cdo not constitute a resumption of the war.\u201d Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin hinted that the U.S. strikes were in fact a response to Iran\u2019s attack on the UAE on Monday, though she did not say so explicitly and noted only that they came \u201cafter\u201d it.<\/p>\n About two hours after the initial reports of explosions in Bandar Abbas, shortly before midnight Israel time, Iran also reported the activation of air defense systems in western Tehran. It was not immediately clear whether an attack had also taken place there. Fifteen minutes before midnight, Mehr reported another explosion in Bandar Abbas, and five minutes later another in Minab, near the Hormuz coast. Three minutes before midnight, explosions were reported again \u2014 this time in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n After exchanges of fire, U.S. President Donald Trump said: \u201cNo, no, the ceasefire is going. It\u2019s in effect.\u201d Trump described the retaliatory strikes against Iran as a \u201clove tap,\u201d said ABC reporter.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4 View gallery <\/p>\n Air defense systems operating in western Tehran<\/p>\n Iranian officials who spoke earlier with The New York Times accused the UAE, and Iran\u2019s Tasnim news agency also hinted that Abu Dhabi was behind the explosions in Qeshm and Bandar Abbas: \u201cSome sources claim the explosions are linked to a confrontation with small aircraft and a hostile Emirati action in Qeshm. This matter has not yet been confirmed or officially announced. If this matter is confirmed, the UAE will pay for the action,\u201d Tasnim reported. \u201cThey will regret this,\u201d Iranian army commander Amir Hatami threatened on X, without saying whom the threat was directed at.<\/p>\n At the same time, Iranian state broadcasting quoted a \u201cmilitary source\u201d as saying: \u201cFollowing an attack on an Iranian oil tanker by the U.S. military, the enemy in the Strait of Hormuz came under Iranian fire and was forced to flee after sustaining damage.\u201d It remains unclear, however, whether this is connected to the attack on Qeshm Island, which is located in Hormuz. The U.S. military, it should be recalled, said Wednesday that as part of enforcing the blockade on Iranian ports, it attacked and disabled the Iranian oil tanker M\/T Hasna using fire from an F\/A-18 fighter jet that took off from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, after the vessel ignored its warnings and tried to break the blockade and dock at a port in Iran.<\/p>\n Tasnim later cited sources claiming that the Iranian navy attacked three U.S. destroyers near the Strait of Hormuz. \u201cThe destroyers are fleeing toward the Gulf of Oman. The attack against them was carried out using missiles and suicide drones,\u201d the Iranian report said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4 View gallery <\/p>\n Bahman pier on Qeshm Island<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday evening that the Trump administration is considering renewing Project Freedom. Trump claimed he had suspended the plan because of progress in talks with Iran, but NBC reported overnight that the suspension also followed Saudi Arabia\u2019s decision to prevent the U.S. military from using its bases and airspace. Now, according to the Journal, those restrictions, as well as similar restrictions imposed by Kuwait, have been lifted.<\/p>\n U.S. officials who spoke with the newspaper said it was unclear when the operation, under which the U.S. Navy would escort ships and tankers and protect them from Iranian attacks, would resume, but said it could happen in the coming days. However, a senior U.S. official later quoted by Al Jazeera denied the reports, saying preparations to renew Project Freedom were not underway.<\/p>\n According to the Journal, use of Saudi and Kuwaiti bases and the airspace of both countries is critical to the U.S. military\u2019s ability to carry out the operation, and lifting the restrictions removes a major obstacle to resuming it. The report did not say how restarting the operation would affect negotiations with Iran, or whether the possibility of its renewal indicates difficulties in the talks.<\/p>\n Reuters reported the renewed hostilities cast further doubt on the durability of the fragile ceasefire that had largely held over the past month. The exchange of fire came as Washington awaited Iran\u2019s response to a U.S. proposal intended to stop the fighting while postponing resolution of the most contentious issues, including Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n According to sources and officials familiar with the discussions, the proposal does not include key U.S. demands that Iran halt its nuclear activities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war handled about one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies.<\/p>\n Under the proposed framework, the process would proceed in three stages: a formal end to the war, resolution of the Strait of Hormuz crisis and a 30-day period of negotiations toward a broader agreement.<\/p>\n The Journal reported, citing Saudi officials, that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait imposed the restrictions on the use of their bases and airspace after U.S. officials played down the Iranian attacks across the Gulf earlier this week \u2014 carried out in response to the new U.S. operation \u2014 and declared them \u201cbelow the threshold for resuming the war.\u201d The officials added that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states were also concerned the United States would not defend them if the escalation continued.<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SygOy00cRZe_0_0_850_479_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"")
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