US carries out 'self-defence' strikes in Iran despite ceasefire

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.

Oil prices fluctuated in the wake of the US strikes, which may threaten any agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where an Iranian blockade has choked global fuel supplies.

“US forces conducted self-defence strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” Tim Hawkins, a US 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”.

Iran’s state-run broadcaster IRIB reported several loud explosions were heard in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas at around midnight local time (2030 GMT on Monday).

It added that the situation in the southern port city was normal and local authorities were investigating the cause of the blasts.

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 Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) 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.

Trump pushes Abraham Accords

In an earlier Truth Social post, Trump also called on more Arab and Muslim states to sign up to the Abraham Accords, brokered during his first term in office and aimed at normalising ties between those states and Israel.

He said Saudi Arabia and Qatar should immediately sign and Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey should follow suit, calling his request mandatory. Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

It is worth noting that the nations named by Trump, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have traditionally advocated for a two-state solution between Palestine and Israel as a precursor to any discussions on the normalisation of relations with Israel.

Bahrain and the UAE have already signed the accords, along with Morocco and Sudan.

While Pakistani officials have yet to comment on Trump’s latest demand, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi addressed a query regarding a proposal to join the accords during a weekly briefing earlier this year.

He said Islamabad’s “position with respect to it is that there are certain benchmarks that have to be achieved for Pakistan, which is the creation of a viable contiguous state of Palestine, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital. We will then see how this State of Palestine has relationships with other countries, including potentially Israel. So that is our benchmark. We are not aware, or not concerned about who does or who does not join the Abraham Accord”.

Iran deal sticking points

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that the potential Iran deal contained no specific details on management of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually flows.

Iran will not charge tolls for ships to pass through but there will be a cost for services offered such as navigation and steps to protect the environment, he said, under a protocol to be agreed with Oman, which lies on the opposite shore of the waterway.

Citing a Middle East diplomatic source, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported the US and Iran were discussing a plan to open the strait about 30 days after reaching a deal to end hostilities.

Iran would then clear mines from the strait during a 30-day window, after which ships from all countries could navigate freely and safely, Nikkei reported.

Since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, only a few dozen vessels have been passing through the Strait of Hormuz compared with 125 to 140 daily previously.