Middle East crisis live: Trump warns Iranian forces they will be ‘blown off the face of the Earth’ if they target US ships

Iran’s foreign minister has said events in the strait of Hormuz show there is “no military solution to a political crisis”.

Abbas Araghchi also said in a post on X that “Project Freedom is Project Deadlock”, referring to Donald Trump’s name for the US operation to help stranded ships through the strait of Hormuz.

Araghchi said talks were making progress with Pakistani mediation, while also warning:

The U.S. should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire by ill-wishes. So should the UAE.

• Donald Trump threatened that Iran will be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacks US vessels trying to reopen a route through the strait of Hormuz. The US president’s comments came as the US launched an operation – so-called “Project Freedom” – on Monday to help hundreds of ships trapped with their crews in the Gulf, dragging the region back to the brink of full-scale war. Tehran sought to reassert its blockade on the strait, while the US military claimed to have destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted both Iranian cruise missiles and drones, which was denied by Tehran. Here’s our story.

• Earlier, Iran’s military central command warned that it would strike any US naval vessel approaching the strait, and claimed to have struck a US frigate in the area with two missiles. US Central Command denied that claim, saying that no US Navy ships had been struck and that US forces were continuing to enforce the naval blockade on Iranian ports.

• US Central Command also said that two US-flagged merchant vessels crossed through the strait of Hormuz on Monday as US Navy guided-missile destroyers operate in the Gulf. Shipping company Maersk later said that one of its US-flagged commercial vessels had successfully exited the strait under US military protection.

• Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates defence ministry said that its air defences engaged 15 Iranian missiles and four drones in a fresh barrage on Monday. Fujairah had also said earlier that a fire broke out at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, the largest oil storage zone in the UAE, following what they described as a drone attack originating from Iran.

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

Shipping company Maersk has said that one of its US-flagged commercial vessels successfully exited the strait of Hormuz under US military protection on Monday.

In a statement, Maersk said the transit of the Alliance Fairfax vessel was “completed without incident, and all crew members are safe and unharmed”.

The vessel, Maersk siad, had been unable to leave the Gulf since February, when the war began.

Earlier, US Central Command said that two US-flagged merchant vessels had crossed through the strait of Hormuz as US Navy guided-missile destroyers operate in the Gulf.

Back at the White House, Donald Trump again belittled Iran’s military capabilities, referring to the conflict as a “mini war” and suggesting that the US should’ve seized Iran’s ships rather than blowing them up.

The United Arab Emirates defence ministry has said that on Monday its air defences engaged 15 Iranian missiles and four drones.

That includes 12 ballistic missiles and three cruise missiles, injuring three people, it said.

It brings the total since the war began to 549 ballistic missiles, 29 cruise missiles, and 2,260 UAVs, the ministry added.

And that didn’t take long, Donald Trump has just mentioned Iran.

Speaking at the small business summit at the White House, Trump reiterated his view that “we can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon”.

Referring to his war as “a military operation, call it what you want” and a “detour”, as he has in the past, he said it’s “working out very nicely”.

He then repeated his usual claims about the US decimating Iran’s capabilities, claiming Tehran has “no navy, no air force, no anti-aircraft equipment, no radars, nothing – they have no leaders, actually, the leaders happen to be gone also.”

“But [you] can’t let them have a nuclear when or you’d have problems like nobody would believe, and it’s going very well,” he added.

He also dismissed polls showing that the war is unpopular as “fake”.

The US president so far hasn’t mentioned Monday’s escalations.

Schools in the United Arab Emirates are shifting to remote learning this week following Iran’s renewed attacks on Monday.

The UAE’s ministry of education said in a statement that public and private schools and nurseries would operate remotely from Tuesday to Friday “out of concern for the safety of students and all those working in the education sector”.

“The current situation will be reassessed on Friday, May 8, 2026, if there is a need to extend the period,” it added.

Donald Trump is due to give remarks shortly at a small business summit at the White House. I’ll bring you any key lines here in the likely event that he mentions Iran.

US Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of Central Command, declined to comment to Reuters on whether he thought a ceasefire begun on April 8 remained in effect as Iran lashed out in region, including with drone and missile attacks on the UAE on Monday.

But Cooper acknowledged ongoing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps efforts to “interfere” with Trump’s operation.

“The IRGC has launched multiple cruise missiles, drones and small boats at ships we are protecting. We have defeated each and every one of those threats through the clinical application of defensive munitions,” he said.

An Iranian military source has said all of the UAE’s interests will become Tehran’s targets if the gulf nation takes “unwise” against Iran, according to the Tasnim state news agency.

Israel’s military is closely monitoring the developments in the Gulf and remains on high alert, according to a military official who spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines.

The official added that there are currently no changes expected in guidelines for Israel’s civilians, including limitations on the size of gatherings, that are implemented during times of war.

“Project Freedom” has all the trappings of a classic episode of the Trump Show, the reality series that the rest of the world does not just have to watch, but live through and survive. It has a dramatic plot twist, it is bathed in a self-projected beatific light, and the trailer looked far more promising that the reality.

Julian Borger analyses how, after banging his battle drum, Trump is back in Nobel peace prize mode. But the move has dramatically raised the stakes. Read his full analysis here:

US envoy to the UN Mike Waltz told reporters Monday that the US will be co-drafting a Security Council resolution with Bahrain and its Gulf allies that would “hold Iran to account” for its months long chokehold over the critical waterway.

The unreleased draft would require Iran to stop laying sea mines in the strait and halt all tolling efforts. It would also require the disclosure of the number and locations of the mines it has placed.

It is unclear what enforcement mechanism, if any, the resolution will have to ensure any of these demands.

But it is the latest diplomatic effort by the Us and its Gulf allies after a similar resolution was vetoed by China and Russia hours before a temporary ceasefire was announced in early April.