US launches 'self-defensive' strikes on Iranian missile sites and boats
It comes as Iran's top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar's prime minister on a potential deal with the U.S. to end the three-month-old war
The US has launched 'self-defensive' strikes on missile sites and boats attempting to lay mines in southern Iran, according to the US military.
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US Central Command said in a statement the strikes were designed "to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces."
"US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire," said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesperson.
He added: “Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines. US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire."
According to a senior US official, two Iranian boats were spotted laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Forces also responded after a missile site had targeted U.S. warplanes, Fox News reported.
On Monday explosions were heard in various regions across the Strait of Hormuz, with one explosion heard in Bandar Abbas in souther Iran, state media reported.
The strikes came as Iran's top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar's prime minister on a potential deal with the US to end the three-month-old war, an official briefed on the visit said on Monday, after Washington and Tehran played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New Delhi earlier that the US would give diplomacy every chance to succeed before considering whether to deal with Iran in "another way".
Speaking after the strikes, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday negotiating a deal with Iran could "take a few days," quashing hopes for an imminent end to the conflict.
Describing the strikes against targets including boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, Rubio said the Strait of Hormuz has to be open "one way or the other."
"The straits have to be open, they're going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open," Rubio told reporters on his plane in India.
Despite a ceasefire in place since early April, US Central Command said in a statement on Monday it had carried out fresh strikes designed "to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces."
Iran said on Monday it had downed a "hostile" stealth drone using a new air defence system, Iranian news agencies reported, without saying where it had come from.
Read more: Oil prices fall amid hopes of US-Iran peace deal after Trump flags 'constructive' talks
There was a "pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the strait (of Hormuz), get the strait open, enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter, and hopefully we can pull it off," Rubio said.
Trump said over the weekend that a US-Iran deal had been "largely negotiated", and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that a "solid" agreement could be reached imminently.
However the US President warned that the conflict would see a return to the battlefront with "bigger and stronger shooting" if no peace deal is reached.
Writing on TruthSocial, the president said: "Negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran are proceeding nicely!
"It will only be a Great Deal for all or, no Deal at all — Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before — And nobody wants that!"
In the same post, he also called on Middle Eastern nations to join the Abraham Accords, a normalisation of relations between some Arab nations and Israel, signed during Trump's first term.
He added: "The reason for this is that the Abraham Accords have been great for them, and will be even better for everybody, and bring true Power, Strength, and Peace to the Middle East for the first time in 5,000 years.
"It will be a Document respected like no other that has ever been signed, anywhere in the World."
According to US media, the deal under discussion involves an extension of the ceasefire by 60 days, negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme, and the much-anticipated reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The crucial waterway where 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passes and which Iran has been blocking."
Trump said "negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner" but noted the US blockade on Iranian ports will remain until an agreement is signed.
Speaking on Monday, Rubio said: "We're still a work in progress.
"As I said, you know, we thought we might have some news last night. Maybe today," Rubio said on Monday in the Indian capital, Delhi.
"So we have, what I think is a pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the Straits."
Over the weekend, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also declared his nation were ready to reassure the world that the country does not want a nuclear weapon.