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• Trump claims Iranians ‘know what to do’; warns of strikes if deal not reached
• Pentagon says ceasefire still holding, top general feels attacks still ‘below the threshold’ necessitating major combat response
• UAE continues to intercept drones, missiles for second straight day
• Tehran outlines mechanism for Hormuz navigation, warns ships against using unauthorised routes
WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: With the United Arab Emirates being targeted for a second consecutive day on Tuesday, the ceasefire between the US and Iran was still holding despite skirmishes a day earlier, while Tehran denied involvement in the widely condemned drone and missile attacks on the UAE.
Iran’s foreign ministry said its “defensive actions” were only directed at the US forces, rejecting the UAE’s accusations that it fired drones and missiles against the Gulf country.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, described the Monday confrontation with Iran as “a little skirmish” and did not see it as a violation of the ceasefire, even though his allies, including the European states, condemned Tehran for its alleged strikes on the UAE.
“You’ll find out, because I’ll let you know. They (Iran) know what to do … and they know what not to do,” he said, adding that Iran did not violate the ceasefire. He also repeated his threat of strikes on Iran unless an agreement was reached, saying if Iran was unable to reach a deal, “they won’t be successful. It’ll go very quickly and methodically”.
He played down the Iranian attack on the US ships trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz and termed the incidents “a little skirmish”. “We’re in a little skirmish militarily. I call it a skirmish because Iran has no chance. They never did. They know it,” President Trump said during an event. He also asked Iran to surrender, claiming its military had been destroyed.
However, Iran claimed five civilians were killed in the US strikes, targeting its ships. Citing Iranian officials, Al Jazeera reported the boats that the Americans claimed to have hit were civilian vessels.
Truce intact
The Pentagon also addressed the episode, with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth saying the truce was still intact. In a comment on ‘Project Freedom’, launched to break the Iranian hold on Hormuz, Hegseth said the operation to protect commercial ships was temporary. “We’re not looking for a fight,” he told a press conference. “Right now the ceasefire certainly holds, but we’re going to be watching very, very closely.”
However, US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said the forces were ready to resume major combat operations against Iran if they were ordered to do so, AFP reported. He said Iranian attacks against US forces fell “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point”.
US Central Command “and the rest of the joint force remain ready to resume major combat operations against Iran if ordered to do so. No adversary should mistake our current restraint with a lack of resolve,” Gen Caine said. He claimed that Iran attacked Oman once and the UAE three times, including at the Fujairah oil terminal, over the past 24 hours.
Fielding questions from reporters at the Pentagon about ‘Project Freedom’, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington was “overtly and quietly” communicating with Iran to allow this operation to take place.
“There are some actions that the IRGC takes sometimes that are outside the bounds of what maybe Iranian negotiators would like; that’s their job to rein that in, and ultimately create a condition for a deal,” he said.
He added Washington was promising security for commercial vessels with a “red, white and blue dome” over the Strait of Hormuz, as part of the recently launched Project Freedom.
UAE intercepts drones
On Tuesday, the UAE said its air defence systems were “actively engaging with missiles and UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) threats”. “Sounds heard across the country were the result of ongoing engaging operations of missiles and UAV’s, the defence ministry said.
The Iranian military also denied any role in these attacks. “The armed forces…did not launch any missile or drone operation against the United Arab Emirates these past days,” the Khatam al-Anbiya central command said in a statement. He warned that any attacks launched from Emirati territory would be met with a “firm response”.
Against this backdrop, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei called on Gulf states to stop trying to borrow security from extra-regional powers, warning that the US military presence in the Middle East “serves only as a source of instability and endangers the very countries hosting those bases”. “The US military presence in the region is a liability and brings nothing but insecurity,” the spokesman stated.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to Beijing for talks, the foreign ministry said. “During the visit, he will meet his Chinese counterpart (Wang Yi) to discuss bilateral ties and regional and international developments,” the ministry said in a brief statement.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian also said that Iran represented “ethical, responsible power”, while its enemies embody “reckless and unchecked force”. In a post on X, Pezeshkian said: “If politics is reduced to power, the result is today’s world: chaos, oppression, injustice, and piracy.” He added that “power without ethics is hollow”.
The vital energy route continued to steer the conflict. Mr Hegseth said the military was in control of the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran “has a choice to make”.
“They know we’re in a strong position. We hope they make a wise choice, and there’s nobody better to make that deal, Mr President, than you,” he told Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
Iran’s navy, however, issued a statement warning vessels against transiting the Strait of Hormuz via any routes it had not authorised, saying they would face a “decisive response”, Al Jazeera reported.
“We warn all vessels that intend to transit the strait, the only safe route… is the corridor previously announced by Iran,” the statement, carried by Iran’s Fars news agency, said.
“The diversion of vessels to other routes is unsafe and will face a decisive response from the IRGC Navy.” Iran also launched a new mechanism for governing maritime traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state-run Press TV reported. Ships would need to adjust operations according to this new framework and obtain a transit permit before crossing the waterway.
Meanwhile, Iran’s chief negotiator warned the US against any further escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, after a spate of attacks risked reigniting the Middle East war.
“We know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; whilst we have not even started yet,” Bagher Ghalibaf, also the speaker in Iran’s parliament, wrote in a post on X.
Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2026
