U.S. forces fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers on Friday after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz overnight.
The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, reported another Iranian missile and drone attack.
The attacks cast more doubt on a tenuous month-old ceasefire that the United States has insisted is still in effect. Washington is awaiting an Iranian response to its latest proposal for a deal to end the war, reopen the strait and roll back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hopes to receive “a serious offer” from Iran later Friday.
The U.S. military said Friday that its forces had disabled two Iranian tankers that were trying to breach an American blockade of Iran’s ports. Hours earlier, the military said it thwarted attacks on three Navy ships and struck Iranian military facilities in the strait.
Here’s the latest on the Iran war on Friday:
U.S. says it responded to an attack in the strait
The U.S. military posted video of the two Iranian tankers as their smokestacks were struck by an American fighter jet on Friday.
Earlier in the week, an American military jet shot out the rudder of a tanker the U.S. military said was attempting to breach its blockade.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 8, 2026
Late Thursday, the U.S. military said it thwarted Iranian attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz and struck Iranian military facilities in response. It said no American ships were hit.
“They threaten Americans, they are going to be blown up,” Rubio told reporters on Friday.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it called “hostile” U.S. military action, saying it violated the ceasefire. “Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X.
A U.S. strike overnight killed at least one sailor and injured 10 others aboard a cargo vessel that caught fire, a news agency affiliated with Iran’s judiciary reported. It was not clear if the ship was one of the two tankers the U.S. acknowledged striking.
U.S. awaits Iran response to peace deal offer
The United States was awaiting Iran’s response to its latest proposed peace deal on Friday, after both sides accused the other of triggering an overnight clash that rattled markets and revived fears of a return to fighting.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a response was expected on Friday but that Iran must not control the Strait of Hormuz, where the flare-up took place. “Iran now claims that they own, that they have a right to control, an international waterway… That’s an unacceptable thing that they’re trying to normalize,” Rubio said.
Hezbollah says Israeli bases targeted
Hezbollah on Friday said it launched missiles at a military base in northern Israel in retaliation for Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, despite a truce.
In a statement, the group said it targeted a base south of the Israeli city of Nahariya. The Israeli military had said earlier that sirens sounded in several northern cities.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed a member of Lebanon’s civil defence, the rescue organization said.
Iran denies Monday strike on oil terminal
Tehran had denied carrying out a strike on Monday on the major UAE oil terminal in Fujairah, but Iranian analysts have been allowed to appear on state media to suggest the Emiratis have been involved in recent attacks on Iran.
This week, Trump has fed hopes of a deal, saying an agreement could be near even as he again threatened to return to bombing if Tehran refused to back down.
But he doubled down on that stance after Thursday’s clash, posting on his Truth Social platform: “We’ll knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don’t get their Deal signed, FAST!”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei had said Thursday that Tehran would communicate its position to mediator Pakistan “after finalizing its views.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif struck an optimistic tone prior to the exchanges of fire on Thursday, saying in televised remarks: “I firmly believe that this ceasefire will turn into a long-term ceasefire.”
Lebanon talks
Any agreement between Washington and Tehran could also help lower tensions in Lebanon, where a separate truce was under renewed strain after an Israeli strike on southern Beirut killed a Hezbollah commander on Wednesday.
A U.S. State Department official confirmed on Thursday that the new Israel-Lebanon talks would take place on May 14 and 15.
It will be the third meeting in recent months between the two countries, which have technically been at war for decades and have no diplomatic relations.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that a peace deal between the two sides was “eminently achievable”, insisting that Hezbollah was the sticking point, rather than any issue between the two governments.
Both Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have kept up their attacks despite the ceasefire.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the outbreak of the broader war.
Oil tanker reaches South Korea after passing blockade
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.
The arrival of the Malta-flagged Odessa, carrying one million barrels of crude oil, will likely ease Seoul’s concerns over energy security as the war in the Middle East drags on.
The hulking vessel was spotted at around 10:00 a.m. near a mooring facility off the coast of Seosan.
Its arrival is expected to help stabilize supply, securing crude equivalent to nearly half of South Korea’s daily oil consumption, industry sources said.
Its cargo will undergo refining before being supplied to the market as petroleum products, including gasoline and diesel, the sources said.
The Odessa passed through the Strait of Hormuz on April 17 during a brief reprieve in the blockade.
Iran creates agency to control passage at Hormuz
Earlier on Thursday, a shipping data company reported that Iran has created a government agency to vet and tax vessels seeking passage through the strait.
The Iranian effort to formalize control over the channel raised new concerns about international shipping, with hundreds of commercial vessels bottled up in the Persian Gulf and unable to reach the open sea. Still, hope that the two-month conflict could soon be over buoyed international markets.
The report by shipping data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence that Iran has established a new government agency to approve transit and collect tolls from shipping in the strait raised concerns over the freedom of navigation on which global trade depends.
The agency, called the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, is “positioning itself as the only valid authority to grant permission to ships transiting the strait,” Lloyd’s reported in an online briefing Thursday. Lloyd’s said the authority had emailed it an application form for ships seeking passage.
– With files from AFP and The Associated Press
