{"id":220062,"date":"2026-05-05T00:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T00:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220062\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T00:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T00:50:11","slug":"iran-war-live-updates-uae-reports-missiles-and-drone-threats-trump-says-u-s-will-guide-ships-in-strait-of-hormuz-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220062\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran War Live Updates: UAE Reports Missiles and Drone Threats; Trump Says U.S. Will Guide Ships in Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Shipping companies said on Monday that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/03\/us\/politics\/strait-hormuz-stranded-ships.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">President Trump\u2019s offer<\/a> to provide them safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz fell short of the sort of arrangements that would persuade them to make the trip.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Trump said on Sunday that the United States would \u201cguide\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/24\/business\/strait-hormuz-ship-captain.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">commercial vessels<\/a> through the strait, which Iran has effectively closed since the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/26\/world\/middleeast\/us-iran-peace-talks-pakistan.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">war in the Persian Gulf<\/a> started two months ago. But the president provided few details on how the program, Project Freedom, would work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">On Monday, Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the military\u2019s Central Command, said U.S. warships had shot down cruise missiles and drones that Iran fired at the ships and commercial vessels that the Navy was guiding through the Strait of Hormuz. Central Command said two American commercial ships had sailed through the strait. Maersk, the Danish shipping giant, said Monday that one of its vessels, a vehicle carrier flying the U.S. maritime flag, had agone through the strait.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">But there were reports that other ships were struck. The United Arab Emirates accused Iran of launching a drone attack on an oil tanker owned by <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2026\/05\/04\/world\/iran-hormuz-ships-navy\/126f13bc-422c-50b1-b22c-5b1b49960e5f?smid=url-share\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ADNOC<\/a>, its state oil company, according to the Emirati state news agency. And a South Korean cargo ship caught fire on Monday after an explosion in the strait, the South Korean foreign ministry said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Four ships went through the strait on Monday, according to S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence. Before the war, around 130 vessels made the passage daily.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Fearing attacks by Iran on their vessels, shipping companies have been reluctant to send vessels through the strait. They say Iran needs to be part of any plan to move large numbers of vessels through the waterway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Ali Abdollahi, a top Iranian military commander, warned \u201call commercial ships and oil tankers to refrain from any attempt to transit without coordination with the armed forces,\u201d according to an Iranian state media report on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Without an agreement from Iran, \u201cthere is a risk of hostilities breaking out again,\u201d said Jakob P. Larsen, the chief safety and security officer of the Baltic and International Maritime Council, which represents companies in the maritime sector.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">\u201cIt is unclear whether Project Freedom is sustainable in the longer run or whether it will be a limited operation to get some of the trapped ships out,\u201d Mr. Larsen added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Tom Bartosak-Harlow, a spokesman for the International Chamber of Shipping, a maritime trade group, said Mr. Trump\u2019s plan lacked detail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">\u201cThere is much uncertainty around what Project Freedom means in practice, but any plans put in place must be done in a coordinated and transparent manner,\u201d he said in a statement. Mr. Bartosak-Harlow said the chamber was calling on all countries, Iran included, \u201cto work together to seek a swift and transparent resolution to restore freedom of navigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Hapag-Lloyd, a large container shipping company, has several vessels <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/24\/business\/strait-hormuz-ship-captain.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">stuck<\/a> in the Persian Gulf that it would like to send through the strait. \u201cAt this stage, our risk assessment remains unchanged, and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed for Hapag-Lloyd transits until further notice,\u201d the company said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Iran\u2019s stranglehold on the strait has cut off a significant proportion of the world\u2019s supply of oil and natural gas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Most of the ships that have gone through the waterway since the war began have taken a route that runs close to Iran\u2019s coastline, indicating that the ship operators got Iran\u2019s permission to make the passage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Insurance costs are a main reason cargo ships are not traveling through the strait, Ana Subasic, a trade risk analyst at Kpler, said in an email. \u201cEven if a captain is willing to sail, owners, lenders, charterers and cargo interests may refuse to,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">\u201cProject Freedom has a moderate chance of extracting some vessels, especially U.S.-flagged or highly coordinated low-risk vessels, but a low chance of fully reopening Hormuz quickly unless it becomes legally clear, less expensive and diplomatically coordinated,\u201d Ms. Subasic said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">The U.S. military commanders said they were hoping that Project Freedom would encourage more ships to venture through the strait.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">\u201cWe\u2019ve now opened a passage through the Strait of Hormuz to allow for the free flow of commerce to proceed,\u201d Admiral Cooper said on a conference call with reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">He declined to say how Central Command would determine which commercial ships to guide. But he said the command had reached out to dozens of ships and shipping companies to encourage them to use the protection of the U.S. military \u2014 but not specifically naval escorts \u2014 to defy Iran\u2019s blockade of the strait.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">In a statement about the transit of its car-carrier vessel, Maersk thanked the U.S. military \u201cfor its professionalism and effective coordination in making this operation possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Hundreds of ships are still trapped in the Strait of Hormuz, leaving their crews stranded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">\u201cLives of sailors are in utmost danger \u2014 they have such scarcity of drinking water,\u201d said P.A. Khan, who oversees the branch of the Maritime Union of India in Chennai, India. \u201cWhat Trump is saying makes things more difficult and not easier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">The International Maritime Organization, which monitors developments, said about 20,000 mariners on around 1,600 vessels were trapped in the Persian Gulf. \u201cMy call is to release the seafarers because they are not at fault,\u201d Arsenio Dominguez, the group\u2019s secretary-general, said in a statement last week.\u202f\u201cThe situation is not improving.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-ei0myh evys1bk0\">Nearly 30 ships have been attacked since the war began, according to the organization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-pc2nwc etfikam0\">Suhasini Raj contributed reporting from New Delhi; Vivian Nereim from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Choe Sang-Hun from Seoul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shipping companies said on Monday that President Trump\u2019s offer to provide them safe passage through the Strait of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1452,27306,14670,60,33408,75,84,83,164,9,24,63,5007,67494,62208,1069,5251,1554],"class_list":["post-220062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-donald-j","tag-hezbollah","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-lebanon","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-middle-east","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-oil-petroleum-and-gasoline","tag-persian-gulf","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-trump","tag-united-states-defense-and-military-forces","tag-united-states-international-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}