U.S. forces on Monday launched an effort to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, where hundreds have been stuck since the Iran war began.
Two American-flagged merchant ships have “successfully transited” through the critical waterway, the U.S. military said. Separately, the U.S. military denied Iran’s claims that it struck an American Navy vessel southeast of the strait.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates on Monday said an Iranian drone
sparked a fire at an oil facility in Fujairah, a key pipeline hub used to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Shortly after the report, the British military said a cargo ship off the coast of the Emirates was ablaze. The UAE issued its first three missile alerts on Monday since the shaky ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. took hold almost four weeks ago.
Iran handed over its latest proposal for negotiations with the U.S. to mediators in Pakistan, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Friday. Trump subsequently said he’s “not satisfied” with it, but did not elaborate on the proposal’s apparent shortcomings. The shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has lasted for three weeks.
Here's the latest:
The United Arab Emirates said it had engaged a number of missiles and drones launched from Iran on Monday.
In an update posted on X, the defense ministry said its air defense systems engaged 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four drones. The attacks moderately injured three people.
A residential building housing employees in Oman was targeted Monday, officials said, though did not provide details of the incident.
The defense ministry said in a statement on X, citing an unidentified security source, that the building housed workers of a company in the Tibat district of the town of Bukha. Two foreigners were moderately injured, four vehicles were damaged and windows in a nearby house were shattered.
Bukha is a town on Oman’s Musandam peninsula, an enclave on the southern edge of the Strait of Hormuz that is separated from the rest of the sultanate.
Authorities did not say whether the incident was the result of an attack or identify its source, adding that an investigation is underway.
U.S. envoy to the U.N. Mike Waltz told reporters Monday that the U.S. will be co-drafting a Security Council resolution with Bahrain and its Gulf allies that would “hold Iran to account” for its monthslong 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’s 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 U.S. and its Gulf allies after a similar resolution was vetoed by China and Russia hours before a temporary ceasefire was announced in early April.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, will hold a news conference on Tuesday, Trump said in a social media post on Monday.
Trump released no other details. But the news conference will come a day after the U.S. military launched an effort to defend commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks.
President Donald Trump has urged South Korea to “come and join the mission” in the Strait of Hormuz, where the U.S. military is defending commercial ships from Iran.
Trump said in a social media post that Iran had “taken some shot” at a South Korean cargo ship, though did not elaborate.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations is “still trying to fully understand” exactly what U.S. statements saying the vital Strait of Hormuz is open.
Reports of an exchange of fire in the strait, which had carried about 20% of the world’s crude oil and the United Arab Emirates intercepting Iranian missiles are “concerning,” he said.
“There’s not much clarity at this point, but what we do not want to see is a return to outright kinetic activity in this area,” Dujarric said.
“We need to see a return of what has been centuries of practice of common law, which is freedom of navigation in these waters,” he told U.N. reporters on Monday.
Israel’s military is closely monitoring the developments in the Gulf and remains on high alert, according to a military official who spoke 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.
—- Melanie Lidman
Asked whether the U.S. was protecting sites in the United Arab Emirates that came under Iranian attack, Cooper said he didn’t want to go into details.
The head of U.S. Central Command told reporters Monday that the “UAE has exceptional capability. They’re well-positioned to defend themselves.”
Authorities in the eastern emirate of Fujairah said an Iranian drone sparked a fire at a key oil facility, wounding three Indian nationals. The British military also reported two cargo vessels ablaze off the UAE.
Cooper says the Fujairah attack was “under their national jurisdiction” and not part of the new American effort to get commercial ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
The airspace over the UAE was nearly empty Monday night as the country faced multiple sirens warning of incoming drones, according to the flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
Just days ago, the airport, which is among the world’s busiest, had announced it had mostly returned to full operations.
The United Arab Emirates condemned what it called “renewed treacherous Iranian aggression” targeting civilian sites that left three people injured, and called for an immediate halt to the attacks.
“These attacks represent a dangerous escalation and an unacceptable violation,” the UAE’s foreign ministry said in a statement on X, adding that the UAE reserves the right to respond in a way that protects its sovereignty and security.
In his call with reporters, Cooper declined to say whether the ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. was over or not, but noted that it was Iran that “initiated aggressive behavior” in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.
Cooper said the U.S. military is serving as a defensive force “to give a very clear defense to commercial shipping, to allow them to proceed out of the Arabian Gulf.”
“That’s what we’re focused on,” Cooper said. “What we saw this morning was Iran initiating aggressive behaviors. We are simply going to respond to that.”
Cooper said the U.S. military has been able to clear a pathway in the Strait of Hormuz that is free of any Iranian mines in an effort to allow commercial vessels to transit the narrow waterway.
Cooper said U.S. military also has set up a “defensive umbrella” that includes American helicopters and fighter planes to protect the freighters leaving the strait.
Adm. Brad Cooper, who heads U.S. Central Command, said U.S. military helicopters have sunk six Iranian small boats that were targeting civilian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
It is the latest test of the ceasefire between Iran and the U.S.
Iran has launched multiple cruise missiles, drones and small boats at ships the U.S. military is protecting, a top commander said Monday.
Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, said during a news conference that “each and every one” of the threats had been defeated.
Authorities in Fujairah said an Iranian drone that sparked a fire at an oil facility left three Indian nationals injured.
The authorities said in a statement they suffered medium wounds and were transferred to the hospital.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center announced the fire on the ship, saying it was in the vessel’s engine room. It said the ship’s crew was accounted for.
Fujairah is the terminus of a pipeline the United Arab Emirates has used to avoid shipping some of its oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the Iran war.
The UAE on Monday issued its first three missile alerts since a ceasefire took hold.
“We warn that any foreign military force — especially the aggressive U.S. military — that intends to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz will be targeted,” Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi told state broadcaster IRIB on Monday.
The United Arab Emirates issued the alert without saying what prompted it.
It was the second such alert Monday, after there had been none in recent weeks following the Iran ceasefire.
Authorities haven’t provided further details on either alert. An all-clear signal was issued minutes after the first alert. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
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The federal judge told the U.S. government Monday not to cut down more than 10 trees without first providing notice amid a legal dispute at a historic Washington golf course President Trump plans to renovate.
U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes said during a remote hearing that she wasn’t going to issue a temporary restraining order just yet in the case brought by the DC Preservation League. She also told the National Park Service that it should first discuss any plans with government lawyers if it was going to cut down more than 10 trees.
Monday’s hearing came after the plaintiff’s emergency petition seeking to stop work at the course, citing news reports that major renovations were to begin Monday.
Kevin Griess, the superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks for the Park Service, said during the hearing there was no plan to begin such work Monday but added that a safety assessment was underway.
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The Supreme Court’s order Monday blocks a ruling that had threatened to upend one of the main ways abortion is provided across the nation.
The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito temporarily allows women seeking abortions to obtain the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor.
Those rules had been in effect for several years until a federal appeals court imposed new restrictions last week.
The majority of abortions in the U.S. are obtained through medications, usually a combination of mifepristone and a second drug, misoprostol. Their availability has blunted the impact of abortion bans that most Republican-led states have started enforcing since a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed for state bans.
Louisiana sued to restrict access to mifepristone, asserting that its availability undermined the ban there.
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He announced Monday that he’ll lead a bipartisan congressional delegation on a visit to China this week, when the group of five senators will be visiting tech businesses in Shanghai and Beijing and meeting Chinese officials.
The trip will come just about a week before President Trump is scheduled to visit China for the first time since he took office. It also will be the first state visit by a U.S. president since 2017.
Traveling with Daines are fellow Republican Sens. Deb Fischer, Mike Lee and Jerry Moran as well as Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell.
As part of its National Defense Strategy announced in January — a sweeping document laying out a vision on everything from deterring China to defending against cyberattacks to disrupting Iran’s nuclear ambitions — the Trump administration said Europe must do more for its own defense.
While “we are and will remain engaged in Europe, we must — and will — prioritize defending the U.S. Homeland and deterring China,” it said.
Among other things, the document noted that Europe’s economic power, while shrinking in relative terms globally, remains significant, and said Germany’s economy alone “dwarfs that of Russia.”
“Fortunately, our NATO allies are substantially more powerful than Russia — it is not even close,” it said, noting a recent commitment among NATO allies to raise national defense spending to 5% of GDP in total, a push led by Trump.
The U.S. European Command, created in 1947 and known as EUCOM, is one of 11 combat commands within the Defense Department, and covers some 50 countries and territories.
In addition to more than 36,000 troops in Germany, Italy hosts more than 12,000 and there’s another 10,000 in the United Kingdom, according to Pentagon numbers from December.
The Pentagon has offered few details about which troops or operations would be affected in the drawdown announced Friday.
The U.S. increased its European deployment after Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine four years ago. NATO allies like Germany have expected for over a year that these troops would be the first to leave.
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The event in the East Room will bring together more than 130 small business owners as the president highlights his administration’s policies benefiting them.
“Our nation’s 36 million small businesses now have the confidence to hire, reinvest and expand, unleashing an historic era of sustained growth,” Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler said ahead of the event. “America is open for business again.”
The gathering is meant to mark this year’s National Small Business Week and the owners represent manufacturing, food production, defense, energy and retail businesses, among other areas, according to the White House.
European leaders on Monday said President Trump’s snap decision to pull thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany came as a surprise but is a fresh sign that Europe must take care of its own security.
The Pentagon announced last week that it would pull some 5,000 troops out of Germany, but Trump told reporters Saturday that “we’re going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.”
He offered no reason for the move, which blindsided NATO, but his decision came amid an escalating dispute with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and Trump’s anger over European allies’ reluctance to get involved in the conflict in the Middle East.
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The U.S. stock market is holding tentatively near its record heights Monday, while oil prices climb with uncertainty about when oil tankers can resume crossing the Strait of Hormuz and restore the world’s flow of crude. Dueling claims about a possible Iranian strike on a U.S. Navy vessel in the strait heightened the tensions.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 216 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.1%.
The action was stronger in the oil market, where the price for a barrel of Brent crude climbed 2% to $110.37 and briefly topped $114 during the morning. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to its war with the United States has kept oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide. That in turn has sent the price of Brent soaring from roughly $70 per barrel before the war.
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Rubio will travel to Rome and Vatican City this week in a bid to ease rising tensions between the Trump administration and Pope Leo over U.S. policies, particularly with Iran.
The State Department said Monday that Rubio, a devout Catholic who’s visited Rome and the Vatican at least three times since becoming Trump’s top diplomat, would be in Italy on Thursday and Friday.
“Secretary Rubio will meet with Holy See leadership to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere” the department said. “Meetings with Italian counterparts will be focused on shared security interests and strategic alignment.”
The trip comes as Trump has criticized Pope Leo, the first American pontiff, for his stances on the Middle East and elsewhere and posting social media images likening Trump to Jesus Christ.
The disruption of the waterway has squeezed countries in Europe and Asia that depend on Persian Gulf oil and gas, raising prices far beyond the region.
Trump has promised to bring down gas prices as he faces midterm elections this year.
The U.S. has warned shipping companies they could face sanctions for paying Iran for transit of the strait. It has enacted a naval blockade on Iranian ports since April 13, telling 49 commercial ships to turn back, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. The blockade has deprived Tehran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy.
U.S. officials have expressed hope the blockade forces Iran back to the negotiation table.
The U.S. military said Monday that two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz and Navy guided-missile destroyers in the Persian Gulf were helping to restore shipping traffic. It separately denied Iran’s claims to have struck an American Navy vessel.
The announcement came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new initiative to help guide ships through the critical waterway for global energy. Iran has effectively closed the strait since the U.S. and Israel started the war Feb. 28, rattling the global economy.
The U.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center has advised ships to cross the strait in Oman’s waters, saying it set up an “enhanced security area.” U.S. Central Command didn’t say when the Navy ships arrived or when the merchant vessels departed.
It was unclear whether shipping companies, and their insurers, will feel comfortable taking the risk given that Iran has fired on ships in the waterway and vowed to keep doing so.
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