Iran's response was immediate. According to CBS News, the UAE Defense Ministry reported that its air defense systems intercepted a total of 15 missiles and four drones originating from Iran, a salvo that comprised 12 ballistic missiles and three cruise missiles. A fire broke out at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone following what officials believed was an Iranian drone attack, leaving three Indian nationals with injuries requiring hospital treatment. In Oman, a workers' residential building on the Musandam Peninsula was also hit, with two foreign nationals sustaining moderate injuries, according to CBS News.
The HMM Namu, a South Korean cargo vessel, suffered an engine-room explosion and resulting fire, but South Korean officials confirmed that all 24 people aboard escaped harm and the blaze was fully put out, according to CBS News. Maersk, the Danish freight giant, announced that its U.S.-flagged ship Alliance Fairfax completed its departure from the Persian Gulf under American military protection on May 4 with no incidents and the crew safe, according to CBS News.
Iran's state television broadcaster pushed back on the American version of events, with IRIB denying that any commercial ships had passed through the strait and state news agency IRNA rejecting claims that any Iranian fast boats were sunk, according to CBS News. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media that "there's no military solution to a political crisis" and called the operation "Project Deadlock," according to CBS News.
The USS Truxtun and USS Mason pushed through the strait into the Persian Gulf under a sustained Iranian barrage involving missiles, drones, and small boats, but both warships came through the passage unscathed, according to CBS News.
At a meeting with other European leaders in Armenia, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that Paris would sit out any military operation whose parameters he found insufficiently defined, and insisted that Washington and Tehran working in concert was the only viable path to reopening the strait, according to CBS News. Saudi Arabia called on both sides to de-escalate, and the UAE condemned what it described as "renewed treacherous Iranian aggression," according to CBS News.
According to CBS News, vessel traffic through the strait — which in normal times carries around a fifth of global oil supplies — has plummeted by over 90% since the U.S.-Israel war with Iran broke out in late February.
