DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The United States attacked Iran early Sunday morning over an Iranian attack on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, setting the container ship ablaze and forcing its crew to abandon it. Iran apparently responded with strikes targeting Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The new crossfire in the Persian Gulf comes after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested an interim deal and ceasefire in the Iran war was “over.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote online: “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.”
The United Arab Emirates warned the public Sunday of an incoming missile and drone attack as explosions could be heard in nearby Qatar. A missile alert sounded in Qatar shortly after the blasts. Qatar’s military said in a statement it intercepted the incoming Iranian fire.
Meanwhile, missile alerts sounded in Bahrain, an island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
It wasn’t immediately clear what locations were under attack in the UAE, which so far hadn’t been targeted in the latest round of attacks by Iran.
In the Strait of Hormuz attack, a Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engineroom damage” and a civilian crew member is missing, U.S. Central Command said.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, overseen by the British military, said the ship had been traveling in a route hugging the shoreline of Oman. That’s been the way ships have gotten in and out of the Persian Gulf while avoiding Iranian territorial waters. The ship’s crew abandoned the vessel as it was ablaze, the center said.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said multiple vessels “disregarded our warnings and instructions to correct their course and proceed along the approved route.” One of them “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”
Iran said that the strait would remain closed “until further notice” and said it would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if it faced more attacks.
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Weissert reported from Washington.
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