The U.S. military launched what it called defensive strikes against Iran on Monday, threatening to upend their fragile ceasefire just as President Donald Trump and his team suggested a deal to end the war may be close.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that an agreement could be finalized in “a couple of days,†and that the negotiators were down to “disagreements over a word, a sentence.â€
Tehran has been far more reserved in its assessment of the talks' progress, and the powerful Revolutionary Guard vowed Tuesday to “respond decisively to any violation of the ceasefire.†Iran's top negotiators were in Qatar, a U.S. ally that has emerged as an increasingly central player in negotiations, seemingly to hash out one of the last sticking points in the deal.
Adding new uncertainty, the U.S. military said late Monday it had launched “self-defense strikes†that included “missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines.â€
They were launched on Bandar Abbas near the Strait of Hormuz, a defense official said.
There was no announcement of any change in the temporary ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, which went into effect April 8. “U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,†Hawkins said.
The Revolutionary Guard said that U.S. forces had “entered Iran's airspace in the Persian Gulf region,†according to a statement carried by the semi-official Fars news agency. It claimed to have shot down an American MQ-9 drone and fired at another U.S. drone and F-35 fighter jet, forcing them to turn around.
“The IRGC warns against any violation of the ceasefire by the invading American army and considers its right to reciprocal response both legitimate and certain,†it said.
There was no immediate response from the Pentagon to the claims.
The strikes are not the first to be carried out by the U.S. amid the ongoing ceasefire. But this new round of attacks were launched as the two sides intensified talks about ending the war, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran on Feb. 28.
Iran said earlier Monday that an agreement was not imminent after Trump raised and then lowered expectations that a deal may be close.
The presence of Tehran's top negotiators in Qatar — reportedly to finalize terms for the unfreezing of billions of dollars in Iranian assets held in the Gulf emirate — offered another clue that there may be progress toward a deal to end the three-month war and restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran effectively closed the crucial trade route and the U.S. military has blockaded Iranian ports, throttling maritime traffic and disrupting global supplies of energy and food.
The framework of a potential agreement, according to a senior Trump administration official, would give the two sides 60 days to reach a full peace deal.
Trump however inserted a new wrinkle into talks, explicitly linking an Iran deal with the Abraham Accords between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors. He called on a number of nations in the region, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and others to join the breakthrough agreement.
A senior Arab official from a country Trump mentioned rejected the idea of a package deal, telling NBC News that the first priority should be stopping the war with Iran and reopening Hormuz, and then discussing a peace deal with Israel.
“We need to get this done, then we start looking at resolving other issues,†said the official, who didn't want to be named.
Also Monday, Trump demanded a resolution to the issue of enriched uranium inside Iran, a key sticking point in the ongoing negotiations. The president has repeatedly called for Iran's current stockpile to be removed from the country and sent to either the U.S. or another location.
Trump said on social media that the material “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.â€
A senior White House official told NBC News this is not a new position for the president and does not reflect any demand that hasn't already been communicated to the Iranians.
Tehran has insisted it has no plans to build a nuclear weapon and has maintained its right to a nuclear program.
Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since succeeding his slain father, vowed Tuesday that the U.S. would no longer have any safe haven in the Middle East.
“The ticker of time will not go back and nations and countries of the region will no longer be shields of American bases,†Khamenei, who is believed to have suffered injuries in U.S.-Israeli strikes, said in a post on social media.
Iran was able to “deliver a harsh slap to the aggressor America and thwart the enemy's objective of forcing Iran into submission†during the war, Khamenei said in a separate message carried by Iranian news agencies to mark the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
