The fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, in place since early April, faced its most severe test on Monday as Iran launched its first direct attack on the United Arab Emirates since the truce took hold. A drone struck a major oil facility in the emirate of Fujairah, sparking a fire that injured three Indian nationals, while the UAE Defence Ministry reported intercepting three of four Iranian cruise missiles, with the fourth falling into the sea. The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre separately confirmed two cargo vessels ablaze off the UAE coast. These strikes came hours after President Donald Trump announced “Project Freedom”, a US-led naval mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to hundreds of commercial vessels trapped since the onset of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran in late February.

Viewed from Washington, the operation was framed as a humanitarian gesture for neutral shipping crews running low on supplies. Admiral Brad Cooper, head of Central Command, said American AH-64 Apache and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters destroyed six Iranian small boats threatening commercial traffic, while US forces intercepted multiple cruise missiles and drones. “We have defeated each and every one of those threats through the clinical application of defensive munitions,” Cooper stated. Trump, speaking to Fox News, escalated his rhetoric, warning that Iran would be “blown off the face of the Earth” if it attacked US vessels escorting ships through the strait. The president also claimed that two American-flagged merchant vessels had successfully transited under Navy guidance.

From Tehran, the narrative was starkly different. Iran’s military warned before the operation that any US entry into the strait would be met with attack, and state media claimed that two missiles struck a US warship near the port of Jask, forcing it to retreat. The Pentagon flatly denied this, asserting that no US Navy ships had been hit. Senior Iranian lawmakers framed Project Freedom as a violation of the ceasefire, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued fresh threats to target American forces. Analysts in London note that the entire episode underscores the absence of a broader diplomatic settlement: the ceasefire halted aerial bombardment and ground operations but left the core dispute over Iran’s control of the strait unresolved.

For the Gulf Arab states, already weary of being drawn into the US-Iran confrontation, Monday’s attacks on the UAE represent an alarming escalation. The strikes hit Fujairah, the UAE’s eastern oil hub and a vital alternative export route bypassing the strait itself. Emergency alerts sounded across the emirate for the first time in weeks, reviving memories of earlier phases of the conflict. Looking ahead, the success or failure of Project Freedom will determine whether the ceasefire can survive as a framework for eventual negotiations or collapses into open naval warfare. With Tehran refusing to cede control of the waterway and Washington insisting on free passage, the Gulf now faces a prolonged period of low-level but highly volatile skirmishing — a test of resolve that carries grave risks for global energy markets and maritime trade.