Middle East crisis live: tanker hit by ‘projectiles’ in strait of Hormuz after Trump says US will help ‘guide’ stranded ships

Iran has warned the US navy against entering the Hormuz strait, according to a statement from the unified command of Iran’s armed forces reported by state media.

The warning came after Donald Trump announced the US would start an effort on Monday to free ships stranded in the waterway.

The Iranian statement, cited by Reuters, added:

We have repeatedly said the security of the Strait of Hormuz is in our hands and that the safe passage of vessels needs to be coordinated with the armed forces.”

The Joint Maritime Information Centre says the maritime security threat level in the strait of Hormuz remains critical due to ongoing regional military operations.

The centre’s advisory note – posted on X by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre – said on Monday that mariners were advised to coordinate with Omani authorities via VHF channel 16 and should consider routing via Oman territorial waters south of the traffic separation scheme, where the US has established an enhanced security area.

The note said:

Transit via or in close proximity to the Traffic Separation Scheme should be considered extremely hazardous due [to] the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated.”

A tanker reported being hit by “unknown projectiles” in the strait of Hormuz soon after Donald Trump announced the US would help trapped ships through the waterway.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said all crew were reported safe in the incident, which occurred 78 nautical miles north of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.

Authorities were investigating, it said, adding that vessels were advised to “transit with caution”.

Welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.

Donald Trump has said the US will start an effort on Monday morning to free ships stranded in the strait of Hormuz as a “humanitarian gesture” to aid neutral countries in the US-Israeli war against Iran.

The US president provided few details about the plan, which he said would aid ships and their crews that have been “locked up” in the strait and are running low on food and other supplies as Iran blocks access through the crucial waterway.

“We have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site on Sunday.

He threatened that any interference with the US operation would “have to be dealt with forcefully”.

It was not immediately clear which countries the US operation would aid or how the operation would work. US Central Command said support would include guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 land- and sea-based aircraft and 15,000 service members.

A report from Axios later claimed the navy would not necessarily escort ships through the strait.

In other key developments:

• Iran said on Sunday it had received a US response to its latest offer for peace talks a day after Trump said he would probably reject the Iranian proposal because “they have not paid a big enough price”. Iranian state media reported that Washington had conveyed its response to Iran’s 14-point proposal via Pakistan, and that Tehran was now reviewing it.

• “At this stage, we do not have nuclear negotiations,” state media quoted Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying, an apparent reference to Iran’s proposal to set aside talks on nuclear issues until after the war has ended and the foes have agreed to lift opposing blockades of Gulf shipping. Iran has been blocking nearly all shipping from the Gulf apart from its own for more than two months. Last month the US imposed its own blockade of ships from Iranian ports.

• Israel on Sunday ordered thousands of Lebanese people to leave 11 towns and villages in southern Lebanon, an escalation of a war between Israel and Iran’s Hezbollah allies there that has run in parallel to the Iran war and could further complicate wider peace efforts.