The truce between the United States and Iran threatened by surge of violence in the Gulf.

The ceasefire in the Middle East “wavered” on Monday, May 4, as the American army claims to have destroyed six small Iranian boats, Iran fired on American ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and the United Arab Emirates declared they were attacked by the Islamic Republic, reports The New York Times. The US Central Command (Centcom) announced on Monday that, as part of President Donald Trump’s Project Freedom operation, two US-flagged merchant ships passed through the strait while US destroyers operated in the Gulf. The US forces shot down Iranian missiles and drones targeting US Navy vessels and commercial ships, and destroyed “six Iranian boats that posed a threat to commercial navigation,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, head of Centcom. Iran had earlier claimed to have launched “cruise missiles, rockets, and combat drones” at US ships. The New York Times reports that Tehran has not officially confirmed or denied the resumption of attacks, and a high military official denied, on state media, that Iranian ships were sunk. The newspaper says it still “ignores if the attacks […] mean the ceasefire has shattered and war has resumed.” Seoul reported that a South Korean ship suffered an explosion and fire in the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump blamed on Iran. Emirati authorities accused Iran of a drone attack that caused a fire in the oil industrial zone of Fujairah, the largest oil storage area in the UAE. The Defense Ministry intercepted 12 ballistic missiles, 3 cruise missiles, and 4 drones fired by Iran. Omani state media reported an attack in the country without identifying the perpetrator. “Dangerous Turn” The Financial Times notes that, after Monday’s developments, the “fragile” ceasefire described a month ago, brokered by Pakistan between the US and Iran, faces a “severe test.” The conflict is taking a “dangerous turn,” according to The Wall Street Journal, with Washington and Tehran “resorting to military force to break the impasse in the Strait of Hormuz.” The fighting resumed for the first time in about a month on Monday, with the US Navy trying to reopen the waterway and Iran attacking commercial ships to keep it closed, the newspaper summarizes. This “flare-up of violence” came just “hours after” President Trump announced the Project Freedom operation to help ships blocked in the Persian Gulf cross this crucial passage. This increase in tensions poses “significant risks” for both sides, as “skirmishes escalate,” warns the Wall Street Journal, foreseeing “more significant damage to Iran’s economy and leaders” and “greater US involvement in an unpopular war.” The journal cautions against a “new phase of conflict” likely to “unfold at sea,” potentially evolving into “a long and low-intensity confrontation – less intense than the vast five-week air campaign, but marked by periodic violence that could escalate if either side miscalculates.” Monday’s attacks “reignited uncertainty” about the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, “the world’s most vital energy passage,” typically carrying a fifth of the global oil consumption, controlled by Tehran since the start of hostilities by the US and Israel on February 28, notes the Wall Street Journal. “Millions of barrels of oil have been blocked, and hundreds of ships are stranded in the Gulf with their crews,” the American media reminds. Oil prices surged early Monday, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, trading at around $111 per barrel before falling back down.