LIVE UPDATES: Conflict in the Middle East (May 4, 2026)

Brent crude oil jumped over 5% on Monday and the dollar strengthened after Iran's navy said it had prevented a US warship from entering the Strait of Hormuz.

US stock futures, European stocks and bond prices fell.

Iran's navy prevented "American-Zionist" warships entering the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, state TV reported, while the Fars news agency said two missiles had hit a US warship near Jask on the Gulf of Oman after it ignored Iranian warnings.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. On social media site X, US Central Command, part of the US Department of Defense, said that no ships had been struck.

Iran said it had forced a US warship to turn back from entering the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, but a US official denied a report that it had been struck by Iranian missiles, according to an Axios journalist.

Iran's navy said it had prevented "American-Zionist" warships entering the Strait of Hormuz area by issuing a "swift and decisive warning."

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said two missiles had hit the warship near the port of Jask at the southern entrance to the strait, where Iran's navy has a base, but a senior US official immediately denied the report, Axios' Barak Ravid said.

A total of 205 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families have returned to the Philippines amid the conflict in the Middle East, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Monday.

In a social media post, the DMW said 62 OFWs and 43 dependents arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on Sunday aboard Etihad Airways flight EY440.

Meanwhile, 97 OFWs and three of their relatives arrived at NAIA Terminal 1 on Monday.

DUBAI/DORAL, Florida — Iran's military warned US forces on Monday not to enter the Strait of Hormuz after President Donald Trump said the United States would start helping to free ships stranded in the Gulf by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Trump gave few details of the plan to aid ships and their crews that have been "locked up" in the vital waterway and are running low on food and other supplies more than two months since the conflict began.

"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.

The unified command of Iran's armed forces responded by warning US forces to stay out of the strait.

Its forces would "respond harshly" to any threat, it added, telling commercial ships and oil tankers to refrain from any movement in the absence of coordination with Iran's military.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States would begin an effort to free up ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday morning.

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site, gave few details about the operation, including whether the US Navy would be involved. He described the effort as a “humanitarian gesture” meant only to aid neutral countries that were not involved in the US-Israeli war on Iran.

“For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, 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 wrote in the post.

The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for additional information. — Reuters