The United States military launched strikes against southern Iran on Monday targeting boats it said were attempting to plant mines and missile launch platforms, even as a senior Iranian delegation arrived in the Qatari capital for negotiations over a possible deal to end three months of war.
US Central Command described the strikes as “self-defense,” saying in a statement cited by Reuters that the attacks were intended to “protect our forces from threats posed by Iranian forces.” Tim Hawkins, CENTCOM spokesperson said the command would “continue to defend our forces while maintaining restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday it has shot down a US MQ-9 drone and forced another drone and an F-35 fighter jet to retreat after they violated Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf region, emphasizing Iran’s “legitimate and definite” right to retaliate against any US violations of the ceasefire.
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei remarked Tuesday that “the hands of time will not turn back, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for US bases,” adding that the US is “growing more distant from its former status.”
Speaking on the occasion of the Hajj season, Khamenei remarked: “The shaken Zionist regime and the cancerous tumor of Israel are likewise approaching the final stages of their wretched existence.”
Conversely, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified the strikes, telling reporters Tuesday aboard his plane in the Indian city of Jaipur that the Strait of Hormuz “must be opened one way or another,” while noting that finalizing the language of a deal with Iran could “take a few days.”
The strikes came as diplomatic efforts to end the three-month war were intensifying. A senior Iranian delegation led by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Doha on Monday for talks with Qatari officials on a potential agreement with the United States.
President Donald Trump said negotiations with Tehran were “proceeding nicely!” but warned that a failure to reach a deal would mean “Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before.”
Trump followed his remarks on the negotiations in another Truth Social post stating that enriched uranium, which he described as “Nuclear Dust!” would “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.”
