US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines on Monday, US Central Command said, imperiling a fragile ceasefire and casting new doubt on a deal to end the Middle East war.
The strikes 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 stepped up hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Iranian media said on Tuesday that Tehran’s negotiators were seeking the release of around $24 billion in frozen assets abroad.
“US forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesman, said in a statement.
It gave no details of the attacks and said only that the targets included missile launch sites and boats trying to “emplace mines.”
Responding, Iran’s foreign ministry has issued a statement warning that it will retaliate to US strikes carried out this morning, calling it a “blatant violation” of the ongoing ceasefire.
“The terrorist US military has, over the past 48 hours, committed a blatant violation of the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region,” the statement reads.
Moreover, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Tuesday that regional countries would no longer be shields for US bases, in a written statement carried by state television.
Despite the strikes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday a deal remained within reach but struck a firm note on the Hormuz strait.
“There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress. I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it’ll take a few days,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to India, without commenting about the impact of the strikes.
He said the strait was “going to be open one way or the other,” adding: “What’s happening there is unlawful, it’s illegal, it’s unsustainable for the world, it’s unacceptable.”
The strikes threatened a ceasefire that began April 8 as the United States and Iran struggle to reach an accord to end a war that has rattled the global economy with a severe disruption of energy flows.
Hopes of an accord took another blow when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush” Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran has demanded that any peace accord apply to the fighting in Lebanon as well.
Trump also said in a social media post he expected Iran to hand over its enriched uranium to the United States to be destroyed, or have it destroyed in Iran with an international witness.
The nuclear fuel “will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event,” Trump wrote.
It was not clear whether he meant this would be part of a potential accord with Iran, and the commission he cited was abolished in 1974.