We’re about to shut this live coverage now but you can read our latest full reports here and here, and below is a summary of the latest key events. Thanks for joining us.

• The US military said it fired on Iranian forces and sank six small boats targeting civilian ships as it moved to reopen the strait of Hormuz on Monday and Tehran sought to reassert its blockade.

• As the Middle East returned to the brink of full-scale war, the US-allied United Arab Emirates 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 wounded three Indian nationals, authorities said.

• Donald Trump said Iran would be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacked US vessels trying to reopen a route through the Hormuz strait under a US military operation titled Project Freedom.

• Two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the strait on Monday as part of the project, the military said.

• 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 no US Navy ships had been struck and US forces were continuing to enforce the naval blockade on Iranian ports.

• The British military reported two cargo vessels on fire off the UAE.

• Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the US and the UAE “should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire”. He also said there was “no military solution” to the crisis.

• In 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.

• Stocks sank on Tuesday amid the fresh spike in Middle East tensions.

• Japan took delivery of its first stockpile of oil from Russia since global supplies were choked off by the Hormuz strait’s closure, reports said.

• A fire onboard a South Korean-operated vessel in the strait of Hormuz that had an explosion has been extinguished, ship operator HMM said. South Korea’s foreign ministry said no casualties were reported, while Trump blamed Iran for the attack.

• The UK and Saudi Arabia both called for de-escalation after reported barrage of Iranian attacks on the UAE. British PM Keir Starmer said: “Iran needs to engage meaningfully in negotiations to ensure the ceasefire in the Middle East endures, and a long-term diplomatic solution is achieved.”

• Inflation is picking up and the global economy could face a “much worse outcome” if the war in the Middle East drags into 2027 and oil prices hit about $125 a barrel, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned.

Japan has taken delivery of its first stockpile of oil from Russia since global supplies were choked off by the closure of the strait of Hormuz at the start of the Iran war, reports said.

A tanker carrying crude that was produced as part of a Sakhalin-2 natural gas development project reached the coast of Imabari in western Japan on Monday, reported the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, TV Tokyo and other media, citing unnamed officials of wholesaler Taiyo Oil.

Japan, which depends on the Middle East for about 95% of its oil imports, has tried to diversify sources of energy procurement since Tehran effectively shut the strait in late February.

The project in Russia’s Sakhalin region is not subject to global economic sanctions against Moscow that were put in place after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, AFP is reporting.

Taiyo Oil received a request from the economy ministry to take in the petroleum, the reports said. Officials of the company could not immediately be reached to confirm the reports.

The global oil supply squeeze is inflicting an “enormous impact” on the Asia-Pacific region, Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday after talks with Australia’s prime minister.

Japan and Australia would respond urgently to secure stable energy supplies, she said.

Stockmarkets dropped on Tuesday amid the fresh spike in Middle East tensions, with the two sides appearing to be no closer to a deal to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

And while oil prices fell, they held most of the huge gains seen on Monday after the two countries traded fire over the key waterway and the United Arab Emirates reported an attack on an energy installation in Fujairah.

Crude prices surged on Monday – with Brent up almost 6% – after a US admiral said American forces sank six small Iranian boats. Iran denied any had been sunk and earlier fired warning shots at US warships.

Both main oil contracts slipped on Tuesday, with West Texas Intermediate shedding more than 1%. However, it was hovering just below $105, and Brent was slightly lower at a little more than $113, AFP reports.

Fears that the ceasefire – in place since early April – could fall apart weighed on Asian equities, with Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington and Taipei all down.

The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that inflation is already picking up and the global economy could face a “much worse outcome” if the war in the Middle East drags into 2027 and oil prices hit about $125 a barrel.

IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said the continuation of the war meant that the global lender’s “reference scenario” assuming a short-lived conflict – which forecast a minor growth slowdown to 3.1% and a minor increase in prices to 4.4% – was no longer possible.

Georgieva said:

This scenario, with every day that passes, is further and further behind in the rear-view mirror.”

The continuation of the war, a forecast of an oil price around or above $100 per barrel and rising inflationary pressures meant the IMF’s “adverse scenario” was already in effect, she said in Washington on Monday, quoted by Reuters.

Saudi Arabia has denounced Iran’s attacks on the UAE – the first on the US ally since Washington’s ceasefire with Tehran took effect about a month ago – and called for de-escalation in the region.

The Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement posted on X:

The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s condemnation and denunciation in the strongest terms of the Iranian targeting – through missiles and drones – of civilian and economic facilities in the brotherly United Arab Emirates, as well as a vessel belonging to an Emirati company.

The ministry said Saudi Arabia affirmed its solidarity with the UAE and called on Iran to stop the attacks and “respect the principles of good neighborliness”.

More now on Keir Starmer’s comments: the British prime minister also condemned Iran’s drone and missile strikes targeting the United Arab Emirates.

Starmer called on Iran to engage in diplomacy to prevent further escalation in the Middle East, the prime minister’s office said on Monday, cited by Reuters.

Starmer said:

We stand in solidarity with the UAE and will continue to support the defence of our partners in the Gulf. This escalation must cease. Iran needs to engage meaningfully in negotiations to ensure the ceasefire in the Middle East endures, and a long-term diplomatic solution is achieved.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Donald Trump has also warned Iran that its forces will be “blown off the face of the earth” if they attempt to target US vessels guiding ships through the strait of Hormuz as part of so-called “Project Freedom”.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump also said he sees two paths forward in his war: either reaching a good faith deal or resuming military operations.

He told Fox News that the ongoing US naval blockade was “one of the greatest military maneuvers ever done” and that the Iranians were being “far more malleable” in recent talks than before.

Trump caused worldwide outrage the last time he made similar threats, writing on social media last month that “a whole civilisation will die” if Iran failed to comply with his demands. He also previously threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages” and to blow up all of the country’s bridges and power plants.

Under pressure for making threats that would potentially constitute war crimes under international law if acted on, Trump ended up extending his deadline (again) and eventually the ceasefire was announced.

Donald Trump has weighed in, claiming that the United States has shot down “seven small” Iranian boats after Tehran took shots at several ships in the strait of Hormuz.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said “no damage” had been sustained as a result of Tehran’s strikes, other than to a South Korean vessel.

Iran has taken some shots at unrelated Nations with respect to the Ship Movement, PROJECT FREEDOM, including a South Korean Cargo Ship. Perhaps it’s time for South Korea to come and join the mission! We’ve shot down seven small Boats or, as they like to call them, “fast” Boats. It’s all they have left. Other than the South Korean Ship, there has been, at this moment, no damage going through the Strait.

Earlier, US Central Command chief Admiral Bradley Cooper said that the US military “blew up” six small Iranian boats in the strait.

According to Centcom, “Project Freedom” is an effort to “support merchant vessels seeking to freely transit through” the strait of Hormuz – though it does not involve formal military escorts, as Cooper made clear earlier.

Per Centcom’s statement from Sunday, the effort includes “guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members”.

Meanwhile IRIB, Iran’s state-run broadcaster, said that a senior Iranian military official has denied that US claim that several Iranian war boats had been sunk.

The official also said Iran had no plans to target the United Arab Emirates, after regional tensions escalated over reported attacks near Fujairah and in the strait of Hormuz.

The US military has destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones fired at ships and commercial vessels being “protected” by the US military in the strait of Hormuz, US Admiral Bradley Cooper, the head of Central Command, said on Monday.

The Iranian boats were attacked by US Apache and SH-60 Seahawk helicopters, Cooper said.

There are no “escorts” of commercial ships by the US Navy in the strait, he added.

Cooper said he “strongly advised” Iranian forces to remain clear of US military assets as it launches the operation.

The US blockade of Iran, which is preventing ships from going to Iran or departing Iranian territory, also remains in effect and was exceeding expectations, he added.

The United Arab Emirates has intercepted three missiles fired from Iran over its territorial waters, with a fourth one crashing into the sea, the Gulf country’s defence ministry said in a post on X on Monday.

It comes after authorities in the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah said on Monday 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.

South Korea’s foreign ministry has confirmed to the Guardian that a vessel operated by South Korean shipping company HMM, the HMM Namu, suffered an explosion and fire inside the strait of Hormuz at 20:40 Korean time.

The Panama-flagged ship was carrying six South Korean and 18 foreign crew members. No casualties have been reported. The cause is under investigation.

The US Central Command (Centcom) has also dismissed the claim in Iranian media that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had hit a US warship with two missiles trying to pass through the strait of Hormuz.

Instead, Centcom claimed in a post on X that the “truth” was that “no US Navy ships have been struck” and that US forces are continuing to enforce the naval blockade on Iranian ports.

Centcom has said it would support an effort, announced by Donald Trump over the weekend, to “guide” stranded ships out of the strait of Hormuz with the backing of 15,000 personnel and over 100 aircraft.

Iran has rejected this plan, warning that “any foreign military force, especially the invading American army” will be attacked if they attempt to approach or enter the strait.

Iran’s Fars news agency is reporting that a US warship intending to pass through the strait of Hormuz was turned back after ignoring a warning from Iran’s navy, citing “news sources in the south”.

The report, which we have not yet been able to independently verify, said that two missiles hit a US navy frigate sailing through the waterway in what Iran deemed a violation of “traffic and shipping security” near Jask island.

Iran’s military has warned the US navy to stay out of the strait after Donald Trump said the US will “help free up” ships stuck in the strategic waterway from today.

The US president called the operation a “humanitarian gesture”, with many of the vessels running low on food. But Tehran said it would be seen as a breach of the ceasefire.

Iran imposed a blockade on foreign shipping using the strait soon after the war began with a US-Israeli attack on 28 February which killed the country’s former supreme leader. Trump, who is under growing domestic pressure to get the waterway reopened, imposed a counter-blockade of ships using Iranian ports on 13 April.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, has been speaking to journalists in a media briefing. According to Al Jazeera, he confirmed officials were reviewing a US counterproposal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran.

“The US message was received through Pakistan, and I will not discuss the details of the issues raised at this time because these issues are still under review,” Baghaei said. It is not clear what terms the US demanded Iran accept in its counterproposal.

“The issues raised about enrichment or nuclear materials are purely speculative and, at this stage, we are not talking about anything other than stopping the war completely, and the direction we will take in the future will be determined in the future.”

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has suggested that the US must reduce its “excessive” demands in negotiations if the US-Israeli war on Iran is to be brought to an end.

“At this stage, our priority is to end the war,” he said in a briefing broadcast by state television. “The other side must commit to a reasonable approach and abandon its excessive demands regarding Iran.”

Iran has reportedly received a US response to its latest peace proposal, which is said to have focused on an initial agreement to open the strait of Hormuz, for the US to withdraw its forces from near Iran’s borders, pay compensation for its attack on Iran and for Israel to end its war on Lebanon.

The US president, Donald Trump, claimed on Sunday that his representatives were having “very positive” discussions with Iran but also reportedly told Israel’s Kan News on the same day that the Iranian proposal was unacceptable to him.

The US has repeatedly said ‌it will not end its war without an agreement that prevents Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon. The regime in Tehran insists the programme is for civilian purposes and it has no intention of making a nuclear weapon.

It is possible that an agreement for the strait of Hormuz to reopen is reached before Iran’s nuclear programme is discussed at a later stage of negotiations but, as my colleague Julian Borger notes in this story, there is growing speculation over the possibility of another round of US airstrikes against Iran aimed at forcing concessions faster.

The US has evacuated 22 crew members held aboard an Iranian container vessel to Pakistan and will hand them over to Iranian authorities on Monday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said, calling the move a “confidence-building measure”.

“The Iranian ship will also be backloaded to Pakistani territorial waters for return to its original owners after necessary repairs,” the ministry said in a statement cited by Reuters.

The head of the Iranian military’s unified command has said US or any other foreign armed forces will be attacked if they enter the strait of Hormuz.

The command warned US forces to stay out of the strait and said its forces would “respond harshly” to any threat, telling commercial ships and oil tankers to refrain from any movement in the absence of coordination with Iran’s military.

Ali Abdollahi, head of the forces’ unified command, said in the statement quoted by Reuters:

We have repeatedly said the security of the strait of Hormuz is in our hands and that the safe passage of vessels needs to be coordinated with the armed forces.

We warn that any foreign armed forces, especially the aggressive US army, will be attacked if they intend to approach and enter the strait of Hormuz.”

Iran has warned the US navy against entering the Hormuz strait, according to a statement from the unified command of Iran’s armed forces reported by state media.

The warning came after Donald Trump announced the US would start an effort on Monday to free ships stranded in the waterway.

The Iranian statement, cited by Reuters, added:

We have repeatedly said the security of the Strait of Hormuz is in our hands and that the safe passage of vessels needs to be coordinated with the armed forces.

The Joint Maritime Information Centre says the maritime security threat level in the strait of Hormuz remains critical due to ongoing regional military operations.

The centre’s advisory note – posted on X by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre – said on Monday that mariners were advised to coordinate with Omani authorities via VHF channel 16 and should consider routing via Oman territorial waters south of the traffic separation scheme, where the US has established an enhanced security area.

The note said:

Transit via or in close proximity to the Traffic Separation Scheme should be considered extremely hazardous due [to] the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated.”

A tanker reported being hit by “unknown projectiles” in the strait of Hormuz soon after Donald Trump announced the US would help trapped ships through the waterway.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said all crew were reported safe in the incident, which occurred 78 nautical miles north of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.

Authorities were investigating, it said, adding that vessels were advised to “transit with caution”.

Welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.

Donald Trump has said the US will start an effort on Monday morning to free ships stranded in the strait of Hormuz as a “humanitarian gesture” to aid neutral countries in the US-Israeli war against Iran.

The US president provided few details about the plan, which he said would aid ships and their crews that have been “locked up” in the strait and are running low on food and other supplies as Iran blocks access through the crucial waterway.

“We have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site on Sunday.

He threatened that any interference with the US operation would “have to be dealt with forcefully”.

It was not immediately clear which countries the US operation would aid or how the operation would work. US Central Command said support would include guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 land- and sea-based aircraft and 15,000 service members.

A report from Axios later claimed the navy would not necessarily escort ships through the strait.

In other key developments:

• Iran said on Sunday it had received a US response to its latest offer for peace talks a day after Trump said he would probably reject the Iranian proposal because “they have not paid a big enough price”. Iranian state media reported that Washington had conveyed its response to Iran’s 14-point proposal via Pakistan, and that Tehran was now reviewing it.

• “At this stage, we do not have nuclear negotiations,” state media quoted Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying, an apparent reference to Iran’s proposal to set aside talks on nuclear issues until after the war has ended and the foes have agreed to lift opposing blockades of Gulf shipping. Iran has been blocking nearly all shipping from the Gulf apart from its own for more than two months. Last month the US imposed its own blockade of ships from Iranian ports.

• Israel on Sunday ordered thousands of Lebanese people to leave 11 towns and villages in southern Lebanon, an escalation of a war between Israel and Iran’s Hezbollah allies there that has run in parallel to the Iran war and could further complicate wider peace efforts.