Iran and US trade air strikes after Trump dismisses report of Hormuz deal

DUBAI/WASHINGTON: Iran targeted a US air base in Kuwait on Thursday after the United States struck what Washington described as an Iranian drone operation near the Strait of Hormuz and President Donald Trump rejected a reported compromise deal with Teheran.

The attacks, while limited, highlighted the fragility of negotiations to turn the tenuous early-April ceasefire into a lasting agreement to end the three-month-old war that has killed thousands, and reopen the vital shipping route.

US Central Command said US forces had shot down five Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station in the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a sixth.

Kuwaiti forces had then intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the country, which hosts a large US base.

“These actions were measured, purely defensive and intended to maintain the ceasefire,” a US official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about military operations, told Reuters earlier.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted the US base responsible for an early-morning attack near Bandar Abbas airport and that any repeat would lead to a “more decisive response”, Tasnim news agency reported.

Kuwait condemned the attack and demanded that Iran immediately halt what it called a serious escalation. The violence, the second flare-up this week, coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha celebrated across the region, where multiple countries have been caught up in the conflict triggered by US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.

Mediator Pakistan said its foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, would meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Friday, although the significance of his visit was unclear.

In Lebanon, which Iran says must be part of any overall peace deal, Israel said it had begun striking infrastructure of Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in the southern city of Tyre and had carried out a strike in the capital Beirut. The Lebanese army said a strike had killed one of its soldiers, while Israel, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people with a push deep into Lebanon in pursuit of Hizbollah, said air raid sirens had gone off in its north.

Oil prices rebounded, with US crude futures up more than 2% after falling 5% on Wednesday, while stocks fell and the dollar rose on fading investor confidence in a peace deal that many see as key to easing global inflation risks.

TRUMP: NO COUNTRY WILL CONTROL STRAIT

Trump has repeatedly said the end of the war is close but told media at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday he was not yet satisfied by the negotiations and that the US was not discussing easing sanctions, one of Teheran’s demands. The US will shut down Iranian airlines’ access to landing spots, refuelling and ticket sales, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, and has sanctioned Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, set up to manage passage through the strait.

Trump dismissed an Iranian state TV report about an unofficial draft of an agreement to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to prewar levels within a month, with Iran and Gulf state Oman jointly managing traffic.

Trump said no single country would have control over the waterway, and appeared to threaten Oman, with which the US has decades-long military and economic ties.

“It’s international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that, they’ll be fine,” he said.

Oman has not mentioned the idea of joint control of the strait with Iran, with which it says it has discussed freedom of navigation. Teheran expressed solidarity with Oman after what it called “US officials’ threats.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had stopped two vessels passing through the strait and let 26 through in the past 24 hours. More than 100 ships would pass daily on average before the war, with passage covered by international legal guarantees.

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a letter to parliament Iran had emerged strengthened by the war and urged legislators to preserve national unity, repair damage and address hardship, inflation and corruption, state media said. Iranian media also reported that Teheran was insisting on the United States releasing Iranian funds.

Iranian state TV said the draft deal would involve the withdrawal of US forces blockading its ports from the immediate vicinity, and that discussion about US troops in the region was needed. The White House said the report was a “complete fabrication.” Teheran did not comment.

Iranian sources have said the nuclear issue will be discussed in further talks over 60 days – something that may not be acceptable to some of Trump’s closest supporters, who want its nuclear program disbanded. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes only.

“The bottom line is Iran’s never going to have a nuclear weapon,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd

المصدر: New Straits Times