Iran live updates: UAE says it's intercepting Iranian missiles and drones

The U.S. took out six small Iranian boats that were "threatening commercial shipping" on Monday, Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, told reporters during an update on "Project Freedom."

Cooper said that over the past 12 hours, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been launching missiles, drones and small boats toward ships the U.S. was protecting in the Strait of Hormuz, and that the U.S. "defeated each and every one of those threats" through defensive munitions. AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and others were used to "eliminate" the boats, he said.

No U.S. military ships have been struck, Cooper said.

The United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Defense said it is "currently engaging" with air attacks from Iran, and that its air defense systems were intercepting ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones.

This marks the first time the UAE, or any Gulf country, has come under significant attack by Iran since the ceasefire took hold in early April.

Multiple flights headed to the UAE are now diverting to Muscat, Oman, amid reports of drone and missile attacks, according to Flightradar24 data.

Amid the reports, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center also said a cargo ship was on fire off the coast of the UAE. The cause of the fire was not yet confirmed.

Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, the commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a statement carried by state media on Monday that "any foreign armed force, especially the invading U.S. army, if they intend to approach and enter the Strait of Hormuz, will be subjected to attack."

"We will maintain the security of the Strait of Hormuz with all our might and manage it powerfully," Abdollahi said. The commander said that "all commercial ships and tankers" should "refrain from any action to transit without coordination with the armed forces stationed in the Strait of Hormuz so that their security is not endangered."

The warning came after U.S. Central Command said it would on Monday begin the "Project Freedom" operation "to restore freedom of navigation for commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz." President Donald Trump announced the mission on Sunday.

U.S. Central Command posted a statement to X on Sunday confirming that its forces will begin supporting "Project Freedom" in the Strait of Hormuz at the direction of President Donald Trump, beginning on Monday.

"Our support for this defensive mission is essential to regional security and the global economy as we also maintain the naval blockade," Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in the statement.

The mission is intended "to restore freedom of navigation for commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz," CENTCOM said.

The U.S. military role will be to extend a U.S. defensive umbrella over ships seeking to leave or enter the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official told ABC News. Project Freedom is not about providing escorts to ships, the official said.

"U.S. military support to Project Freedom will include guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms and 15,000 service members," CENTCOM said in its statement.