Middle East crisis live: Donald Trump says Iran ‘know what not to do’ to avoid violating ceasefire with US

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRCG) navy has issued a renewed threat to ships transiting through the strait of Hormuz not to deviate from routes Iran has previously approved.

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In remarks reported by the Fars news agency, the IRCG said:

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All vessels intending to transit the strait are warned that the only safe route for passage through the Strait of Hormuz is the corridor previously announced by Iran. Any deviation from this route is unsafe and will be met with firm action by the IRGC Navy.

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It comes as both Tehran and Washington claim to be in control of the strait after the Unites States launched so-called “Project Freedom”, an effort to support ships to move freely through the critical waterway, and the two sides exchanged fire on Monday.

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US defense secretary Pete Hegseth insisted this morning that “Project Freedom” was a “separate and distinct” effort from the ongoing military operation in the region.

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  US president Donald Trump urged Iran Tuesday to “do the smart thing” and make a deal, saying even as a Middle East ceasefire teetered that he did not want to kill more Iranians. “They should do the smart thing, because we don’t want to go in and kill people. Really don’t,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about Iran. “I don’t want to, it’s too tough.”

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  Washington said Iran had not breached a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East conflict on Tuesday, following an exchange of fire between the two sides the previous day as US forces attempted to force open the strait of Hormuz. The US military said it had destroyed six Iranian small boats, as well as cruise missiles and drones, after president Donald Trump sent the navy to escort stranded tankers through the strait in a campaign he called “Project Freedom”.

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  Iran does not have “kamikaze dolphins”, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said, but he would not “confirm or deny” whether America does. He was asked about reports of the marine mammals being deployed as weapons by Tehran amid the ongoing Gulf crisis.

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  The United Arab Emirates’ defence ministry said that its air defences were dealing with missile and drone attacks coming from Iran, a second day of attacks after a four-week period of relative calm since the United States announced a ceasefire. The UAE had earlier said it came under attack from Iran on Monday as the US moved to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

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  Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed Iran’s airstrikes against Bahrain, and the strait of Hormuz, during a meeting with Bahrain’s king, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, earlier. “Our country is facing similar terrorist strikes almost every day, and our people have relevant experience in full-scale defence,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X. “Ukraine is ready to share this security expertise with Bahrain and help strengthen the protection of life.”

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  An Israeli court extended the detention of two Gaza flotilla humanitarian activists until 10 May, the rights group Adalah said. Adalah said it would appeal, according to the Reuters news agency.

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  Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is travelling to Beijing today for talks with his Chinese counterpart “on bilateral relations and regional and international developments”, his ministry said on its Telegram account. While Beijing condemned the initial US and Israeli strikes on Iran which started the war in late February, China has largely adopted a posture of neutrality ever since and has urged for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.

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  US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s meeting with Pope Leo on Thursday will include a “frank conversation” about the Trump administration’s policies, the US ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, has said. “Nations have disagreements, and I think one of the ways that you work through those is … through fraternity and authentic dialogue,” Burch said.

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  Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has condemned the attacks on the US-allied UAE after the Gulf nation was struck by a barrage of missiles and drones yesterday. The UAE came under repeated attacks from Iran for the first time since a ceasefire took hold in early April. One sparked a fire at a key oil facility in Fujairah and injured three Indian nationals, authorities said.

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  The Israeli military has issued more forced displacement orders for people in southern Lebanon – this time for those in the towns of Jabsheet and Sarafand. In a statement on social media, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said these residents should evacuate their homes “immediately and move away from the villages and towns for a distance of at least 1000 metres to open areas”.

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  India’s ministry of external affairs said the attack on Fujairah in the UAE – which injured three Indian nationals – was “unacceptable” and called for an immediate end to the “targeting of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians”. Officials in Fujairah ‌said yesterday that a ​fire broke ​out at the ⁠Fujairah Oil ​Industry Zone following ​what they described as a drone ​attack originating ​from Iran. Civil defence teams ‌were ⁠deployed immediately to contain the blaze, Fujairah ​Media ​office ⁠said in a statement.

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US president Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed Iran’s military capability and when asked what could constitute a violation of a fragile ceasefire, said: “They know what not to do.“

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Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he said:

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And, you know, they fired them a little boats with shooters, you know, the peashooter… You know why? Because they don’t have any boats anymore. The Navy is comprised of. They call them little boats, right?

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Asked whether he would consider arming the Iranian opposition to help them seize power in the country, the said:

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I don’t want to say that, but yeah, I mean, people say, why aren’t they protesting?

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Hegseth says the ceasefire “is not over” despite the attacks from Iran on commercial shipping vessels.

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“We said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that, and ultimately, the president can make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire,” he said.

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Asked what the threshold for restarting major operations would be, Caine says it is a political decision.

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He adds that current Iranian action is “low level” and amounts to “harassment” at this moment in time.

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Meanwhile, Hegseth chief tells a journalist that, contrary to reports, Iran does not have “kamikaze dolphins”.

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The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, is due to give a media briefing on the US-Israeli war on Iran shortly, alongside General Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff. Stay with us as we will be covering it live. You can watch the feed below:

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The UAE has restricted flights to a handful of approved routes until at least 11 May, only two days after the Gulf country lifted all precautionary airspace measures and said its airspace was clear.

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The UAE said yesterday that its air defences were responding to Iranian missiles and drones, forcing flights to divert to Oman’s capital Muscat and circle over Saudi Arabia.

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As we reported in an earlier post, an unnamed Iranian military official said Iran had “no pre-planned programme” to attack oil facilities in the UAE. These comments came after the UAE accused Tehran of striking its Fujairah oil industry zone on Monday.

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A group of House Democrats is urging the Trump administration to publicly acknowledge Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons programme, according to a report in the Washington Post.

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“Congress has a constitutional responsibility to be fully informed about the nuclear balance in the Middle East, the risk of escalation by any party to this conflict, and the administration’s planning and contingencies for such scenarios,” the more than two dozen lawmakers reportedly wrote in a letter to the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio.

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“We do not believe we have received that information,” they wrote.

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Israel has never confirmed or denied possessing nuclear weapons but instead maintains a policy of ambiguity.

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However, Israel is widely believed to have at least 90 warheads, according to this House of Commons Library research briefing, and a nuclear weapons capability which it developed outside the framework of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, under which states without nuclear weapons pledged not to acquire them, as long as the weapons states made good faith efforts to disarm.

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In 2008, former Democratic president Jimmy Carter said Israel held at least 150 nuclear weapons, in what was the first time an American president had publicly acknowledged Israel’s atomic arsenal.

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Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has condemned the attacks on the US-allied UAE after the Gulf nation was struck by a barrage of missiles and drones yesterday.

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The UAE came under repeated attacks from Iran for the first time since a ceasefire took hold in early April. One sparked a fire at a key oil facility in Fujairah and injured three Indian nationals, authorities said.

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In a post to X this morning, Sharif expressed his full solidarity with UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

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“Pakistan strongly condemns the missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates last night,” he wrote.

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“Pakistan stands firmly with our Emirati brothers and sisters as well as with the government of the United Arab Emirates at this difficult time. It is absolutely essential that the ceasefire be upheld and respected, to allow necessary diplomatic space for dialogue leading to enduring peace and stability in the region.”

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vice president, JD Vance, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif shaking hands during their meeting before the US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad on 11 April, 2026.”,”caption”:”US vice president, JD Vance, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif shaking hands during their meeting before the US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad on 11 April, 2026. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office/UPI/Shutterstock”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Pakistan is playing a crucial mediating role between Iran and the US, having hosted a first round of peace talks in Islamabad in April. It continues to relay messages between the two sides even if an agreement looks increasingly elusive.

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The Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said in a post on X this morning that a “new equation of the strait of Hormuz is in the process of being solidified” and warned that the continuation of the “status quo” was an “intolerable” position for the US to maintain.

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Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator, added:

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n

The security of shipping and energy transit has been jeopardised by the United States and its allies through the violation of the ceasefire and the imposition of a blockade; of course, their evil will diminish.

n

We know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; while we have not even begun yet.

n

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parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, led the Iranian delegation for Pakistani mediated talks with the US in Islamabad in April.”,”caption”:”Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, led the Iranian delegation for Pakistani mediated talks with the US in Islamabad in April.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Iran imposed a blockade on foreign shipping using the strait of Hormuz soon after the war began with a US-Israeli attack on 28 February which killed the country’s former supreme leader. The US president, Donald Trump, imposed a counter-blockade of ships using Iranian ports on 13 April.

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Trump’s so-called “Project Freedom”, which began yesterday, says its aim is to use the US military to guide stranded cargo ships out of the strategic waterway. But in doing so it makes the resumption of war much more likely as Iran’s military central command warned that it would strike any US naval vessel approaching the strait.

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We are restarting our live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The US and Iran launched new attacks in the Gulf on Monday as they wrestled for control over the strait of Hormuz amid dual maritime blockades, taking the region back to the brink of full-scale war.

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The fresh volleys of missiles and drones came after Donald Trump launched a new effort to get stranded tankers and other ships through the vital energy and trade route that has been virtually shut since the US-Israeli war against Iran began in late February.

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On Monday, several merchant ships in the Gulf reported explosions or fires, the US said it had destroyed six small Iranian military boats – a claim Tehran denied – and Iran attacked the UAE with drones and missiles, setting the oil port of Fujairah on fire.

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The US military’s Central Command (Centcom) said two US-flagged merchant vessels crossed through the strait of Hormuz on Monday as US navy destroyers operated in the Gulf. Shipping company Maersk later said one of its US-flagged commercial vessels had successfully exited the strait under US military escort.

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photographing Trump as he departs an event in the White House on Monday”,”caption”:”Donald Trump departing a White House event on Monday. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/UPI/EPA”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

In other key developments:

“,”elementId”:”3e0c1731-7a97-4106-b8a5-8c0b936d2ddf”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

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  Trump warned that Iran’s forces would be “blown off the face of the earth” if they attacked US vessels trying to reopen a route through the strait. The president announced the US operation – called Project Freedom – on Monday to help hundreds of ships trapped in the Gulf.

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  Centcom chief Adm Brad Cooper declined to say whether he thought the ceasefire with Tehran that begun on 8 April remained in effect amid Iranian attacks in the region but acknowledged Iran’s Revolutionary Guards tried to “interfere” with Trump’s operation.

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  Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said Monday’s events showed there was no military solution to the crisis. He said peace talks were progressing with Pakistan’s mediation and warned the US and the UAE against being drawn into a “quagmire by ill-wishers”.

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  Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that no commercial vessels had crossed the strait in the past few hours, and that US claims to the contrary were false. Iranian state media also denied reports the US had sunk Iranian vessels.

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  The UK and Saudi Arabia both called for de-escalation after Iran’s attacks on the UAE – the first on the US ally since Washington’s ceasefire with Tehran took effect about a month ago.

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  In Oman, two people were injured by an attack on a residential building in Bukha, on the Hormuz strait’s coastline, an Omani state news agency reported.

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  A fire on a South Korean-operated vessel that had an explosion in the Hormuz strait has been extinguished, ship operator HMM said. South Korea’s foreign ministry said all 24 crew on the HMM Namu – including six South Koreans – were unharmed. Trump blamed an Iranian attack.

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  International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva warned that inflation was already picking up and the global economy could face a “much worse outcome” if the war dragged into 2027 and oil prices hit about $125 a barrel.

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“,”elementId”:”28d99b45-1d45-4d87-a8d9-32f484b64257″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1777962620000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”02.30 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1777963792000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”02.49 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1777962620000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”02.30 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”02.30″,”title”:”Opening summary: US targets Iranian boats amid tense push for control of strait of Hormuz”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Tue 5 May 2026 13.12 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Tue 5 May 2026 02.30 EDT”}],”filterKeyEvents”:false,”id”:”key-events-carousel-mobile”,”renderingTarget”:”Web”,”serverTime”:1778001192692}”>

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IRGC warns vessels to only transit strait of Hormuz through routes it approves or face ‘firm action’

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRCG) navy has issued a renewed threat to ships transiting through the strait of Hormuz not to deviate from routes Iran has previously approved.

In remarks reported by the Fars news agency, the IRCG said:

All vessels intending to transit the strait are warned that the only safe route for passage through the Strait of Hormuz is the corridor previously announced by Iran. Any deviation from this route is unsafe and will be met with firm action by the IRGC Navy.

It comes as both Tehran and Washington claim to be in control of the strait after the Unites States launched so-called “Project Freedom”, an effort to support ships to move freely through the critical waterway, and the two sides exchanged fire on Monday.

US defense secretary Pete Hegseth insisted this morning that “Project Freedom” was a “separate and distinct” effort from the ongoing military operation in the region.

In the Oval Office earlier, Donald Trump also downplayed soaring oil prices as a “small price to pay” for eliminating Iran’s nuclear ambitions, adding that he thought the prices would actually have been higher.

I also thought oil would go up to $200, $250, maybe $300, and I know it will be short term.

I look today, it’s like at 102 [$] and that’s a very small price to pay for getting rid of a nuclear weapon from people that are really mentally deranged.

The price of oil would “neutralize” when the war ends, he added.

The average price of a gallon of gas is now $4.48, according to AAA, up by roughly 50% since the US and Israel launched this war at the end of February.

The day so far

• US president Donald Trump urged Iran Tuesday to “do the smart thing” and make a deal, saying even as a Middle East ceasefire teetered that he did not want to kill more Iranians. “They should do the smart thing, because we don’t want to go in and kill people. Really don’t,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about Iran. “I don’t want to, it’s too tough.”

• Washington said Iran had not breached a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East conflict on Tuesday, following an exchange of fire between the two sides the previous day as US forces attempted to force open the strait of Hormuz. The US military said it had destroyed six Iranian small boats, as well as cruise missiles and drones, after president Donald Trump sent the navy to escort stranded tankers through the strait in a campaign he called “Project Freedom”.

• Iran does not have “kamikaze dolphins”, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said, but he would not “confirm or deny” whether America does. He was asked about reports of the marine mammals being deployed as weapons by Tehran amid the ongoing Gulf crisis.

• The United Arab Emirates’ defence ministry said that its air defences were dealing with missile and drone attacks coming from Iran, a second day of attacks after a four-week period of relative calm since the United States announced a ceasefire. The UAE had earlier said it came under attack from Iran on Monday as the US moved to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed Iran’s airstrikes against Bahrain, and the strait of Hormuz, during a meeting with Bahrain’s king, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, earlier. “Our country is facing similar terrorist strikes almost every day, and our people have relevant experience in full-scale defence,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X. “Ukraine is ready to share this security expertise with Bahrain and help strengthen the protection of life.”

• An Israeli court extended the detention of two Gaza flotilla humanitarian activists until 10 May, the rights group Adalah said. Adalah said it would appeal, according to the Reuters news agency.

• Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is travelling to Beijing today for talks with his Chinese counterpart “on bilateral relations and regional and international developments”, his ministry said on its Telegram account. While Beijing condemned the initial US and Israeli strikes on Iran which started the war in late February, China has largely adopted a posture of neutrality ever since and has urged for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.

• US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s meeting with Pope Leo on Thursday will include a “frank conversation” about the Trump administration’s policies, the US ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, has said. “Nations have disagreements, and I think one of the ways that you work through those is … through fraternity and authentic dialogue,” Burch said.

• Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has condemned the attacks on the US-allied UAE after the Gulf nation was struck by a barrage of missiles and drones yesterday. The UAE came under repeated attacks from Iran for the first time since a ceasefire took hold in early April. One sparked a fire at a key oil facility in Fujairah and injured three Indian nationals, authorities said.

• The Israeli military has issued more forced displacement orders for people in southern Lebanon – this time for those in the towns of Jabsheet and Sarafand. In a statement on social media, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said these residents should evacuate their homes “immediately and move away from the villages and towns for a distance of at least 1000 metres to open areas”.

• India’s ministry of external affairs said the attack on Fujairah in the UAE – which injured three Indian nationals – was “unacceptable” and called for an immediate end to the “targeting of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians”. Officials in Fujairah ‌said yesterday that a ​fire broke ​out at the ⁠Fujairah Oil ​Industry Zone following ​what they described as a drone ​attack originating ​from Iran. Civil defence teams ‌were ⁠deployed immediately to contain the blaze, Fujairah ​Media ​office ⁠said in a statement.

Donald Trump has launched a new operation to try and open the strait of Hormuz, but could it spark a re-escalation of the war?

Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, Julian Borger…

The US defence secretary outlined Donald Trump’s ‘Project Freedom’ during a press briefing at the Pentagon on Tuesday.

Pete Hegseth said the US has established a “powerful red, white and blue dome” across the strait of Hormuz as a “gift to the rest of the world”.

He added that the US blockade remains “iron-clad”.

Trump said the Iranian economy “has been crushed” and said that he wants it to fail.

He said:

I hope it fails. Is that you know why? Because I want to win.

The US president added:

I also thought oil would go up to 200, 250, maybe 300, and I know it would be short term, but I thought it would go.

I look today it’s like at 102 and that’s a very small price to pay for getting rid of a nuclear weapon from people that are really mentally deranged.

Trump also sought to minimize the war with Iran, calling it “a little skirmish.”

“We’re in a little skirmish military. I call it a skirmish, because Iran has no chance. They never did. They know it,” Trump said during an Oval Office event on physical fitness among American kids.

On Monday he called it a “mini-war” and last month he described US military operations against Iran as “a little excursion.”

He added that Iran “wants to make a deal”. Trump said:

As you know, the blockade has been amazing. It’s like a piece of steel. Nobody’s going to challenge the blockade. And I think it’s working out very well. We’re going to say, I can say this; Iran wants to make a deal.

What I don’t like about Iran is they’ll talk to me with such great respect and then they’ll go on television. They’ll say, we did not speak to the president.

Donald Trump says Iran ‘know what not to do’ to avoid violating US-Iran ceasefire

US president Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed Iran’s military capability and when asked what could constitute a violation of a fragile ceasefire, said: “They know what not to do.“

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he said:

And, you know, they fired them a little boats with shooters, you know, the peashooter… You know why? Because they don’t have any boats anymore. The Navy is comprised of. They call them little boats, right?

Asked whether he would consider arming the Iranian opposition to help them seize power in the country, the said:

I don’t want to say that, but yeah, I mean, people say, why aren’t they protesting?

In case you missed it earlier, Iran does not have “kamikaze dolphins”, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said, but he would not “confirm or deny” whether America does.

He was asked about reports of the marine mammals being deployed as weapons by Tehran amid the ongoing Gulf crisis.

Hegseth was speaking at a Pentagon briefing where he outlined steps taken by the US to reopen the strategic strait of Hormuz and free hundreds of stranded cargo vessels.

Responding to a question from the media, Hegseth said: “I can’t confirm or deny whether we have kamikaze dolphins, but I can confirm they don’t.”

General Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said: “I haven’t heard about kamikaze dolphins – it’s like sharks with laser beams right?”

Here are some recent images from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Lebanon:

The United Arab Emirates’ defence ministry said that its air defences were dealing with missile and drone attacks coming from Iran, a second day of attacks after a four-week period of relative calm since the United States announced a ceasefire.

The UAE had earlier said it came under attack from Iran on Monday as the US moved to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed Iran’s airstrikes against Bahrain, and the strait of Hormuz, during a meeting with Bahrain’s king, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, earlier.

“Our country is facing similar terrorist strikes almost every day, and our people have relevant experience in full-scale defence,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X. “Ukraine is ready to share this security expertise with Bahrain and help strengthen the protection of life.”

“I proposed signing a drone deal and scaling up cooperation with Bahrain, and we agreed that our teams will work out the details,” the Ukrainian leader, who is defending his country against the Russian full-scale invasion, added.

I had a good and productive conversation with King of the Kingdom of Bahrain His Majesty Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

During our meeting today, we discussed the security situation in the Middle East and the Gulf, as well as key challenges and security opportunities.

We spoke about… pic.twitter.com/TG73xGHqbO

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 5, 2026

“,”alt”:”Zelenskyy tweet. “,”index”:3,”isTracking”:false,”isMainMedia”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”sourceDomain”:”platform.twitter.com”,”isPinnedPost”:false}”>

After more than four years of fighting, Ukraine has battle-tested drone interceptor expertise and has developed groundbreaking air defence technology.

Since the US and Israel launched its war on Iran on 28 February, Ukraine has been offering its drones and know-how to several Middle Eastern countries suffering from Iranian drone attacks.

Ukraine says it has now signed deals with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. In return for its aid to Gulf countries, Ukraine is seeking more high-end air-defence missiles that they possess and that Kyiv needs to counter Russia’s attacks.

Andrew Sparrow

At the Downing Street lobby briefing in the UK, the PM’s spokesperson did not deny a report in the Financial Times saying that Rachel Reeves, the British chancellor, and Scott Bessent, her US opposite number, had a “fierce row” about the Iran war when they met in Washington last month.

In their FT story, Jim Pickard, Sam Fleming and Claire Jones say:

When the pair met later that day [after Reeves told a CNBC event she did not know why the Americans started the war] Bessent berated Reeves over the remarks, according to people familiar with the situation.

The Treasury secretary insisted the world was safer because of the US-Israeli war against Iran, even invoking the spectre of Tehran launching a nuclear attack on London. Reeves responded angrily by telling Bessent she did not work for him and disliked how he had spoken to her.

She also reiterated her argument about the Iran conflict lacking clear goals and not necessarily making the world safer.

The FT also said that Reeves and Bessent had spoken since the incident, and that on other issues they worked well together.

Asked about the story, the spokesperson said:

Although I wouldn’t get into private conversations, the chancellor and the US Treasury Secretary have a good relationship. They have had constructive conversations together since the chancellor’s visits to Washington. There is a readout from the US Department of the Treasury, which made clear the productive nature of their relationship.

Spain on Tuesday renewed a demand for the “immediate release” of a Spanish activist who participated in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and is held in Israel after his detention was extended until Sunday.

Spain’s consul in Tel Aviv will continue to visit Saif Abu Keshek, “providing full protection and in permanent contact with his family”, foreign ministry sources said. “The government of Spain demands his immediate release and that all his rights be respected.”

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