Despite a cease-fire in the US-Israel war against Iran, tensions in the Gulf rose this week as both the US and Iran claimed to have fired on and damaged each other’s ships.
After US President Donald Trump announced US plans to “guide” ships stranded in the Gulf into the Strait of Hormuz in an operation he dubbed “Project Freedom,” Iran said ships attempting to use the strait without permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) would be shelled, raising fears of a return to war.
President Trump did not provide details on how the U.S. military plans to ensure the safe passage of commercial ships. The strait has been almost completely closed since the war broke out on February 28, with about 2,000 ships currently stranded on both banks.
Iran’s Fars News Agency reported on Monday that a US warship that refused to turn back from the Strait of Hormuz was attacked by two Iranian drones. The U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) denied attacking the warship, instead claiming that it had sunk a ship belonging to the Revolutionary Guards. Iran denied that the Revolutionary Guards ships had been attacked, but issued a map of the strait showing the new boundaries of its territory farther east than before and including the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates, raising fears of a new regional conflict.
The UAE later accused Iran of attacking the eastern emirate of Fujairah with a barrage of missiles and drones, setting fire to an oil refinery and injuring three Indians.
The latest claims and counterclaims by the United States and Iran follow the rhetoric used since the early days of the war, when each side has claimed to have attacked the other while denying damage to its own assets.
What is project freedom?
President Trump said Monday that U.S. forces would begin escorting stranded ships in the Strait of Hormuz, signaling a direct challenge to Iran’s blockade of the strategic waterway, through which 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies are transported in peacetime. Since the U.S. and Israeli offensive began on February 28, Iran has threatened to attack ships and effectively blocked the strait.
The closure of vital sea lanes has caused oil and fertilizer prices to soar around the world, raising fears of a global recession and food crisis.
In response, the United States launched its own naval blockade of Iranian ports on April 13.
President Trump said Operation Project Freedom was being carried out at the request of countries that called the ships stranded on both sides of the Strait “neutral and innocent bystanders.”
“The Ship movement is simply about liberating people, businesses and countries who have done nothing wrong. They are victims of circumstance,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social on Sunday, calling it a “humanitarian gesture.”
Did Iran attack a US warship on Monday?
Fars news agency reported that the US warship was attacked by two Iranian drones after refusing orders to turn back from the strait. However, CENTCOM denied this.
This claim has not been verified by an independent observer.
“The Iranian leadership feels they need to match President Trump’s escalation with their own escalation,” Shahram Akbarzadeh, professor of Middle East and Central Asia politics at Australia’s Deakin University, told Al Jazeera.
“If Iran is deprived of the benefit of export revenues due to the U.S. economic blockade, they want to inflict the same economic pain on the U.S. and its regional allies.”
Did the US attack an Iranian ship?
In a statement Monday, U.S. Adm. Brad Cooper said CENTCOM forces had sunk six IRGC ships that tried to sabotage Project Freedom. President Trump later said seven boats were hit.
On Tuesday, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported, citing an unnamed Iranian military commander, that Tehran had launched an investigation into the alleged US attack on the ship.
IRIB reported that no Revolutionary Guard vessels were attacked, but its investigation found that US forces “attacked two small boats carrying people on Monday en route from Khasab on the Oman coast to the Iranian coast.”
The attack destroyed the boat and killed five civilian passengers, the commander said. The United States “must take responsibility for its crimes,” the commander added.
The United States has not commented on this, and this claim has not been verified by an independent observer.
Was the UAE also affected?
The UAE blames Iran for the attack on Fujairah that caused a refinery fire. The Defense Ministry said its air defense forces “engaged” 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four drones fired from Iran on Monday.
This claim has not been verified by an independent observer.
IRIB news agency quoted a military official on Tuesday: “The Islamic Republic had no prior plans to attack the oil facilities mentioned. And what happened was the result of US military adventurism aimed at creating an illegal passage for ships through the restricted waterways of the Strait of Hormuz. The US military must be held accountable for this.”
The official called on the United States to end the “inappropriate use” of force in diplomatic processes and end “military adventurism in this sensitive oil region that affects economies around the world.”
Akbarzadeh said the “attack on Fujairah” was an example of Iran “spreading pain.”
If the attack is indeed carried out by Iran, it would be the first attack on the UAE since the ceasefire agreed between Tehran and the United States went into effect on April 8.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “in the strongest terms this recurrence of unwarranted terrorist attacks by Iran targeting civilian installations and facilities in the country.”
It said it would not tolerate any threats to the security and sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates and warned that it reserved “the right to respond fully and lawfully” to the attack.
How important is this?
Mr. Akbarzadeh said recent developments pose a serious threat to all diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
“There is escalation after escalation on the back of shuttle diplomacy,” Akbarzadeh said.
“Such attacks, even if aimed at containment, risk escalating into another large-scale battle.”
Akbarzadeh said neither the Americans nor the Iranians want war. But by the same token, neither is ready to show weakness, he said.
“This dynamic has locked them into a perpetual conflict and they are in dire need of a circuit breaker. Pakistan is trying to provide a circuit breaker, but with limited success.”
