WASHINGTON/CAIRO: The United States said it expected an Iranian response as soon as later on Friday to its latest proposal to end the war in the Gulf, even as US and Iranian forces traded fire in the region and the United Arab Emirates came under renewed attack.
“We should know something today,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Rome. “We’re expecting a response from them... The hope is it’s something that can put us into a serious process of negotiation.” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Tehran was still weighing its response.
Sporadic clashes between Iranian forces and US vessels were taking place in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported. The Tasnim news agency later cited an Iranian military source saying the situation had calmed, but warning more clashes were possible “if Americans try to enter the Gulf again and cause trouble for Iranian vessels”.
The US military said it struck two Iran-linked vessels attempting to enter an Iranian port, with a US fighter jet hitting their smokestacks and forcing them to turn back.
Oil prices rose, with Brent crude futures above $101 a barrel, though still down more than 6 per cent for the week, as traders weighed clashes against reports of diplomatic progress.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday the ceasefire was still holding despite the flare-ups. Washington is awaiting Tehran’s response to a US proposal that would formally end the war before talks on more contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme.
Trump said three US Navy destroyers were attacked as they moved through the strait, and the US military fired back.
“Three World Class American Destroyers just transited, very successfully, out of the Strait of Hormuz, under fire. There was no damage done to the three Destroyers, but great damage done to the Iranian attackers,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He later played down the exchange. “They trifled with us today. We blew them away,” Trump told reporters in Washington.
Iran accused the US of breaching the ceasefire, which had largely held since it was announced on April 7 but has come under strain this week after Trump announced - and then paused - a naval mission to reopen the strait.
“Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the US opts for a reckless military adventure,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday.
Iran’s top joint military command said US forces targeted an Iranian oil tanker and another ship, and carried out air attacks on civilian areas on Qeshm Island in the strait and nearby coastal areas. It said Iranian forces responded by attacking US military vessels east of the strait and south of the port of Chabahar.
A spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said the Iranian strikes inflicted “significant damage”, but US Central Command said none of its assets was hit.
Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that one crew member was killed, 10 wounded and four missing after a US Navy attack on an Iranian commercial ship late on Thursday near the strait, a key energy route through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas usually passes.
The confrontation extended beyond the waterway. The United Arab Emirates said its air defences engaged with two ballistic missiles and three drones from Iran on Friday, with three people sustaining moderate injuries.
The latest US proposal would formally end the conflict first, before addressing Washington’s core demands, including curbing Iran’s nuclear programme and reopening the strait. Tehran, which made a similar proposal last week, said it had not yet reached a decision on the plan.
Trump said Tehran had acknowledged his demand that it should never have a nuclear weapon, a prohibition he said was implicit in the US proposal.
“There’s zero chance. And they know that, and they’ve agreed to that. Let’s see if they are willing to sign it,” Trump said. Iran has always said its nuclear programme is peaceful and it is not pursuing a weapon. Asked when a deal might be reached, Trump said: “It might not happen, but it could happen any day.”
Rubio said Iran must not control the Strait of Hormuz, where the flare-ups took place, but added: “We’re expecting a response from them today at some point... I hope it’s a serious offer, I really do.”
Washington has sent Iran, via Pakistani mediators, a proposal to extend the truce in the Gulf to allow talks on a final settlement of the conflict.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Friday that the proposal was still “under review, and once a final decision is reached, it will certainly be announced”, according to the ISNA news agency.
Iran did not name the regional US allies it accused of cooperating with the US strikes, though the United Arab Emirates said it had been forced to intercept a volley of Iranian drones and missiles.
“The UAE air defence systems engaged two ballistic missiles and three UAVs launched from Iran, resulting in three moderate injuries,” the Emirates’ defence ministry posted on X.
Iran’s military targeted the US ships after they targeted “an Iranian oil tanker” moving from Iran’s coastal waters as well as another ship entering the Strait of Hormuz opposite the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.
An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader compared control over the Strait of Hormuz to having an “atomic bomb” on Friday, and vowed not to relinquish it.
Adviser Mohammad Mokhber said Iran had long “neglected” its privileged position along the strait, a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments that Tehran shut early in the Middle East war, throwing markets into turmoil and stranding hundreds of vessels.
“The Strait of Hormuz represents an opportunity as precious as an atomic bomb,” he said in a video published by the Mehr news agency.
“Indeed, having in one’s hands a position that allows you to influence the global economy with a single decision is a major opportunity.”
Pledging not to “forfeit the gains of this war”, he went on to say Iran would “change the (legal) regime of this strait”, through international law if possible, and unilaterally if not.
Mokhber did not specifically mention charging vessels to use the waterway, but the shipping journal Lloyd’s List reported on Friday that Iran had created an authority to approve transit through the strait and to collect tolls.
The prime minister of Qatar, a key intermediary, was visiting Washington Friday to meet Vice President JD Vance to discuss Iran, a source familiar with the matter said.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani plans to speak to Vance about “US-Qatar relations and the situation in Iran, with a focus on LNG markets and regional stability,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
Two Saudi sources told AFP on Friday that Saudi Arabia prohibited the United States from using its airspace and bases on its territory to launch operations for its brief bid to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
But the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Washington’s access to Saudi airspace and bases would continue for other uses. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it will not allow its territory and airspace to be used to attack Iran.
Earlier this week, President Trump announced a pause in the two-day-old “Project Freedom” to guide ships through the strait. US media reports on Thursday said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman talked directly to Trump and refused to let US forces use Saudi airspace and bases for the operation.
Saudi Arabia “did not allow flights for operation Freedom”, one of the sources told AFP.
“Saudi Arabia was against the operation because it felt it would just escalate the situation and would not work,” the source added.
On Friday morning, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Rayed Krimly said the kingdom “maintains its position supporting de-escalation and negotiations efforts”, in a post on social media.
Iran said on Friday it redirected a US-sanctioned oil tanker carrying Iranian oil back to its shores, though it was unclear from its statement why it would have returned it.
”The Islamic Republic of Iran’s navy, through a specially planned operation in the Sea of Oman, seized the offending tanker Ocean Koi,” the army said in a statement carried by state television, adding that the oil belonged to the “Islamic republic”. It said the ship was redirected to Iran’s southern shores after it sought “to damage and disrupt Iran’s oil exports,” without elaborating.
China’s foreign ministry confirmed on Friday that an oil products tanker carrying Chinese crew was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, and expressed deep concern about vessels affected by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
There are Chinese nationals aboard the vessel, but no reported crew casualties so far, foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a regular news conference.
Chinese media Caixin reported on Thursday that a Chinese-owned oil products tanker marked “CHINA OWNER & CREW” was attacked near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.
German industry is struggling to recover as the Middle East war heightens uncertainty and raises costs, data suggested Friday, hitting Europe’s top economy amid a prolonged slump.
Industrial production fell 0.7 percent in March versus February, federal statistics office Destatis said, while Germany’s monthly trade surplus of 14.3 billion euros ($16.8 billion) was its lowest since May 2023, with imports rising much faster than exports.
US consumer sentiment came in at its lowest-ever recorded level in May, according to a University of Michigan survey of consumers released Friday, with Americans battered by high prices and concerns about the Iran war.
The university’s Index of Consumer Sentiment came in at 48.2 in May 2026, its lowest level since data collection began in 1952, according to the survey’s website.
Iraq’s oil ministry has denied US accusations against its deputy minister, who the United States hit with sanctions over alleged support to Iran as Washington escalates pressure on Baghdad to break with Iranian-linked groups.
An oil tanker that passed through the Strait of Hormuz arrived in South Korea on Friday, the first such vessel to reach the Asian nation by that route since Iran declared the critical waterway closed.
Saudi Arabia’s Aramco Trading Co. and the UAE’s state oil company Adnoc are among firms that have moved crude cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz since Iran effectively closed the waterway, according to people familiar with the situation, Bloomberg reported.
While total flows remain a tiny fraction of what they were before Tehran closed the oil channel almost 10 weeks ago, the two firms’ activity nevertheless serves as a reminder that some supply is still managing to reach global markets.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan is in close coordination with the United States and other stakeholders to secure the safety and prompt return of its 11 seafarers aboard vessels seized by US authorities, Geo News reported.
“…11 Pakistani and 20 Iranian seafarers, aboard vessels seized by US authorities and currently near Singaporean waters,” DPM Dar posted on X.
“Pakistan, through its Foreign Office and relevant authorities, is closely coordinating with US authorities and others to ensure the safety, welfare, and earliest possible return of our nationals,” he wrote.
The deputy prime minister said that he spoke with the Iranian and Singaporean foreign ministers on Thursday as part of Pakistan’s efforts to secure the safe return of Pakistani and Iranian seafarers.
DPM Dar said that during his phone call with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, he requested the Southeast Asian country’s support for the repatriation of the seafarers.
He appreciated the “cooperation and support” being extended by Singapore in this regard.
DPM Dar said that he also discussed the matter with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a phone call, with both sides maintaining close coordination. He added that Pakistan stood ready to facilitate the safe repatriation of Iranian nationals to Iran via Pakistani territory.
“Also spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, as we remain in close coordination on the matter. Pakistan also stands ready to facilitate the safe repatriation of Iranian nationals to Iran via Pakistan,” the deputy prime minister wrote in his X post.
Washington has revised its proposed UN resolution demanding Iran halt attacks and mining in the Strait of Hormuz but the changes are unlikely to avert Chinese and Russian vetoes, diplomats said on Friday. It was unclear when the council might vote on the resolution.
Hezbollah said it launched missiles and drones at military bases in Israel in retaliation for a recent attack on Beirut and ongoing strikes in the south, where Lebanese authorities reported 11 people killed on Friday.
Air raid sirens had sounded in several cities in Israel´s north during the first attack, according to the Israeli military, though it did not immediately comment on the second. The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes in four parts of the south killed 10 people on Friday, including two children and three women.
