- Missile sites and minelayer ships were attacked.
- New attacks threaten hopes for a US-Iran deal.
- Oil markets were shaken after the US attacks in southern Iran.
WASHINGTON: U.S. forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and ships attempting to lay mines on Monday, U.S. Central Command said, jeopardizing a fragile ceasefire and casting fresh doubt on a deal to end the war in the Middle East.
The attacks came as top Iranian negotiators arrived in Doha for the latest round of talks to end the months-long conflict, and as the Israeli military escalated hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Oil prices fluctuated following the US attacks, which may threaten any agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where the Iranian blockade has choked off global fuel supplies.
“U.S. forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a statement.
He gave no details of the attacks, saying only that the targets included missile launch sites and ships attempting to “lay mines.”
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported that several loud explosions were heard in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas around midnight local time (20:30 GMT on Monday).
He added that the situation in the southern port city was normal and local authorities were investigating the cause of the explosions.
The attacks threatened a ceasefire that began on April 8 as the United States and Iran struggle to reach a deal to end a war that has rattled the global economy with severe disruption to energy flows.
Oil prices remained below $100 on Tuesday morning, with West Texas Intermediate falling more than 5% while international benchmark Brent crude rose.
Hopes for a deal suffered another blow when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush” Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran has demanded that any peace deal also apply to the fighting in Lebanon.
Trump also said in a social media post that he hoped Iran would hand over its enriched uranium to the United States for destruction, or destroy it in Iran with an international witness.
“The enriched uranium (nuclear dust!) will be immediately delivered to the United States to bring home for destruction or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, will be destroyed on site or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, witnessing this process and event,” Trump wrote.
It was unclear whether he meant this would be part of a possible deal with Iran, and the commission he cited was abolished in 1974.
Earlier Monday, Trump said it should be mandatory for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkiye, Bahrain and Jordan to sign the Abraham Accords, a set of agreements negotiated in 2020 with nations historically hostile to Israel, as part of a peace deal with Iran.
Trump said he had spoken with the leaders of those countries on Saturday about efforts to end the war. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have already signed the agreements, along with Morocco and Sudan.
The ceasefire between the United States and Iran has held as diplomats push for a negotiated agreement, although Iran has maintained controls on Gulf shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and the US Navy has sought to blockade Iran’s ports.
While the Abraham Accords were welcomed by some, they remain deeply unpopular in many parts of the Middle East, in part because they do not address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Gulf heavyweights such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar have said they will never normalize ties with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is created.
‘Going crazy’
Anna Jacobs of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington said Gulf nations were unlikely to give in to Trump’s latest demand.
“The national security of the Gulf states has been threatened more than ever due to President Trump’s reckless decisions, and he hopes that the Arab states will thank him and normalize relations with Israel, which they will not do at this stage,” he said.
Trump’s maximalist demand came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested a deal could be reached within a day.
“We thought we might have some news last night, maybe today,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to New Delhi.
But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei poured cold water on hopes of a quick final agreement.
“It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large part of the issues under discussion,” he said at a weekly news conference.
“But to say that this means that the signing of an agreement is imminent, no one can make such a claim.”
‘Critical moment’
Netanyahu said on Monday that he had ordered the military to intensify its offensive in Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of targeting Israeli forces with drone strikes.
“I have ordered an even further acceleration of our operations,” Netanyahu said in a video statement posted on his Telegram channel.
The Israeli leader said Sunday that he and Trump had agreed that “any final deal with Iran must completely eliminate the nuclear threat” before peace is reached.
Iranian officials have stressed that, despite a long-standing US demand to end its uranium enrichment, talks on the issue of the Islamic republic’s nuclear program have been postponed until after an initial agreement.
