DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — American forces carried out strikes against Iran in the early hours of Sunday morning, responding to an Iranian assault on a cargo vessel navigating the Strait of Hormuz. The attack left the container ship engulfed in flames, compelling its crew to evacuate the burning vessel. Iran then appeared to retaliate by launching strikes aimed at Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
The renewed hostilities in the Persian Gulf come on the heels of U.S. President Donald Trump indicating that a temporary agreement and ceasefire in the Iran conflict was finished.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a blunt message online in response to the situation: “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.”
The United Arab Emirates issued a public warning Sunday about incoming missile and drone threats, while explosions were reported in neighboring Qatar. A missile alert system activated in Qatar shortly after those blasts, and Qatar’s military announced it had successfully intercepted the Iranian projectiles.
Missile alerts also rang out across Bahrain, a Persian Gulf island nation that serves as the home base for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
It remained unclear early Sunday exactly which locations within the UAE were being targeted. The country had not previously been struck during this latest wave of Iranian attacks.
According to U.S. Central Command, the vessel hit in the Strait of Hormuz was a Cyprus-flagged container ship that sustained “significant engineroom damage” as a result of the Iranian strike. A civilian crew member was reported missing.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which operates under British military oversight, reported that the ship had been traveling along a route close to Oman’s coastline — a path ships have been using to move in and out of the Persian Gulf while staying clear of Iranian territorial waters. The crew ultimately abandoned the vessel as it burned.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed that several vessels had “disregarded our warnings and instructions to correct their course and proceed along the approved route,” and that one of those ships “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”
Iranian authorities declared the strait would remain closed “until further notice” and warned that “additional enemy bases in the region” could face targeting if Iran continued to come under attack.
