US expects Iranian response to peace proposal on Friday, fighting flares in Gulf

US forces disabled two Iranian oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, exchanging fire with Iranian forces and striking military facilities in what officials described as responses to attempted breaches of an American blockade. The United Arab Emirates reported a separate Iranian missile and drone assault that wounded three people. These incidents pile fresh doubt on a tenuous ceasefire now one month old.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington expects a "serious offer" from Iran later Friday in response to a US proposal aimed at reopening the strait, ending the war that began February 28, and rolling back Tehran’s nuclear programme. Rubio warned, "They threaten Americans, they are going to be blown up," and called Iran’s new Persian Gulf Strait Authority "unacceptable."

Iran has largely blocked the critical waterway since the conflict erupted, sending fuel prices soaring worldwide. The US retaliated with its own port blockade. Satellite images reviewed by The Associated Press revealed an oil slick covering roughly 95 square kilometres emanating from Kharg Island, Iran’s main crude export terminal, first detected Tuesday and spreading at two kilometres per hour. Greenpeace’s Nina Noelle warned of risks to ecologically sensitive marine areas if the slick drifts south.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the US actions on X as "hostile" and a violation of the ceasefire, claiming America chooses "reckless military adventure" whenever diplomacy nears. A US strike overnight killed at least one sailor and injured ten aboard a cargo vessel, according to an Iranian judiciary-affiliated news agency. It remains unclear if that ship was among the two tankers struck by American jets, one of which had its smokestacks hit and another its rudder disabled earlier in the week.

President Trump has repeatedly insisted the ceasefire is holding while threatening resumed full-scale bombing if Iran rejects the deal. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his government has been in contact with both sides "day and night" to extend the truce. A Chinese-crewed tanker registered in the Marshall Islands was attacked near the strait with no casualties; China continues importing Iranian oil despite the closure.

The contradiction is stark: hundreds of commercial vessels remain bottled up, Lloyd’s List Intelligence notes, while Rubio asks whether the world will accept Iranian control of an international chokepoint for oil, gas and fertiliser. Iran’s formalised agency to vet and tax ships only tightens that grip. What the world is prepared to do about it is the question neither side has answered.

Original reporting: Independent.ie