Air defenses in the United Arab Emirates are dealing with projectiles launched from Iran, the Ministry of Defense said in a post on X Tuesday. It is unclear how many projectiles are involved.

"The Ministry of Defense confirms that the sounds heard in scattered areas of the country are the result of the UAE's air defense systems intercepting ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones," the ministry said.

This comes after the UAE's Ministry of Defense said 15 missiles and four drones launched from Iran were engaged on Monday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz.

"They said they control the strait. They do not," Hegseth said.

"Iran has an ability to make that deal, but what we're demonstrating with Project Freedom is they don't control the strait. We know Iran is embarrassed by the fact that our blockade is holding, and we can run ships through, and we're going to help the world run ships through," Hegseth said Tuesday.

The fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran continues to hold, with Iranian attacks being below the threshold of ending the agreement, U.S. officials told reporters on Tuesday.

"Since the ceasefire was announced, Iran has fired at commercial vessels nine times and seized two container ships, and they've attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times, all below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point," Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Tuesday.

The decision to restart military operations is a political one Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not comment on.

"Right now the ceasefire certainly holds but we're going to be watching very, very closely," Hegseth said.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the U.S. is "locked and loaded" in the Strait of Hormuz as it moves to open up the waterway.

"We prefer this to be a peaceful operation, but are locked and loaded to defend our people, our ships, our aircraft, and this mission without hesitation," Hegseth said during a press conference at the Pentagon Tuesday.

Hegseth warned Iran, telling it to "let innocent ships pass freely."

American ships are "shouldering the initial risk from the front" in its efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Hegseth said Tuesday.

"We're not looking for a fight. But Iran also cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway," Hegseth said.

President Donald Trump reiterated his threat for Iran to agree to make a deal to restart negotiations to end the war -- or face attacks again -- after the U.S. military said Iran fired "unprovoked" attacks on three U.S. Naval destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz.

"[J]ust like we knocked them out again today, we'll knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don't get their Deal signed, FAST!" Trump said on social media.

Trump said the three U.S. warships "transited, very successfully, out of the Strait of Hormuz, under fire."

"There was no damage done to the three Destroyers, but great damage done to the Iranian attackers," Trump said.

The president said Iran attacked the warships with missiles and drones, which the U.S. destroyed.

-ABC News' Meghan Mistry