UAE says Iran launches missile attack despite ceasefire

An already fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran appeared to be on the verge of collapse on Monday, after the United Arab Emirates came under attack by Iranian drones and missiles and the United States said it had sunk an Iranian ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump warned Iran in a Fox News interview late Monday that it would be “blown off the face of the earth” if it targeted U.S. ships protecting commercial ships passing through the strait.

President Trump also said in a post on Truth Social that a South Korean cargo ship had come under fire from Iran in the waterway. “Maybe it’s time for South Korea to join this mission!” Trump wrote in the post.

Stock market indexes closed sharply lower on Monday and oil prices rose as investors grew concerned that the war’s impact on the global economy could worsen or last longer.

This escalation came less than a day after President Trump announced “Project Freedom,” an attempt by the United States to “liberate” ships stranded by the de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

After speaking by phone with Trump, ABC News journalist Jonathan Kahl said that despite the hostilities, Trump declined to say explicitly that the ceasefire with Iran, which he announced on April 7 and later unilaterally extended, had been violated.

Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, told reporters on Monday afternoon that the U.S. military had eliminated six small Iranian boats that were trying to block commercial shipping, according to Reuters.

Tehran’s state media denied that the boat had sunk.

The UAE Ministry of Defense said in a translated post on its official X account on Monday morning that its air defenses were “currently dealing with missile attacks and incoming drones from Iran.”

“The sounds heard in various parts of the country are the result of the UAE’s air defense systems intercepting ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones,” the ministry said.

It said its defense systems then engaged 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four unmanned aerial vehicles, leaving three people “moderately injured” in the attack.

In a separate statement, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the three injured were Indian nationals.

Abu Dhabi “condemned in the strongest terms the recurrence of unwarranted terrorist attacks by Iran targeting civilian installations and installations in the country using missiles and drones,” the foreign ministry said.

MS NOW reported that the UAE late announced that it would restrict its airspace for an entire week, impacting access to the country’s civil aviation routes and airports.

The UAE is located on the southern rim of the Persian Gulf and is a major chokepoint for oil transportation.

Late Monday, social media accounts associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps appeared to confirm that the group had launched an attack against the UAE.

In a translated message on Telegram, the account posted footage of what it said was a drone and missile attack carried out by the “IRGC Cyber ​​Command.” One post purported to show the aftermath of a drone attack on the UAE port of Fujairah, while another included a video of a ship bursting into flames after being hit by a missile.

An alert sent out to phones in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on Monday night local time warned people to “immediately seek safety within the nearest secure building due to the current situation and potential missile threat.”