WASHINGTON, May 6: US forces are ready to resume combat operations against Iran if ordered, Washington's top military officer said on Tuesday, as the Pentagon threatened a "devastating" response to Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Hormuz strait.
The warnings came after Iran's powerful chief negotiator said Tehran "had not even started yet", after a spate of attacks in the crucial trade route by both sides on Monday threatened to reignite the Middle East war.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards' navy on Tuesday warned of a "firm response" if any ships diverged from its approved route through the strait.
The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, said it was engaging a barrage of missiles and drones from Iran for the second consecutive day -- an accusation "categorically" denied by the Islamic republic's military.
"The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran did not launch any missile or drone operation against the United Arab Emirates these past days," the Khatam al-Anbiya central command said in a statement.
Iran had on Monday fired missiles and drones at US forces, while Washington said it hit six Iranian boats it said threatened commercial shipping, in the sharpest escalation since a nearly month-long truce.
US Central Command "and the rest of the joint force remain ready to resume major combat operations against Iran if ordered to do so", General Dan Caine told reporters.
"No adversary should mistake our current restraint with a lack of resolve."
President Donald Trump urged Iran to "do the smart thing" and make a deal to end the war, saying even as the ceasefire teetered that he did not want to kill more Iranians.
He had earlier described the war as "a little skirmish", arguing: "Iran has no chance. They never did. They know it."
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth had said the US was "not looking for a fight" in the strait but vowed that Iranian attacks would "face overwhelming and devastating American firepower".
Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has become a key figure in peace talks, said the status quo was "intolerable for America".
The trading of fire in the waterway where the rivals are vying for control with duelling maritime blockades took place after Trump announced a plan to guide ships out of the Gulf.
The war, which erupted more than two months ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has sent the economy into a tailspin despite a weeks-long ceasefire.
Ghalibaf said the actions of the US and its allies had put shipping security at risk, but said their "malign presence will diminish", with Tehran vowing not to surrender control of Hormuz.
Israel's new air force chief Omer Tischler warned the country was prepared to "deploy the entire air force eastward if required" to fight Iran.
Military chief Eyal Zamir added that "the IDF remains on high alert across all fronts. We are closely monitoring developments in the Persian Gulf and are prepared to respond with force to any attempt to harm Israel".
Iran denied any of its combat ships had been hit in US attacks but accused Washington of killing five civilian passengers on boats.
But despite the clashes under Trump's effort dubbed "Project Freedom", Denmark's freight giant Maersk on Tuesday said one of its ships had successfully sailed through Hormuz under US escort.
The UAE called the missile and drone attacks it attributed to Iran "a dangerous escalation and an unacceptable transgression", while key US ally Saudi Arabia called Tuesday for efforts "to reach a political solution".
The attacks delivered another shock to the global economy, with stocks sinking on Tuesday after crude prices surged a day earlier as the tensions raised fears over the truce, with no sign of a deal to reopen the strait. "AFP
