US says it launched ‘self-defense strikes’ in Iran as peace negotiations drag on

U.S. Central Command said it “conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran” on Monday as peace negotiations between the country and the U.S. drag on.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, said in a statement that the strikes were carried out “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”

“Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines,” Hawkins said. “U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”

The announcement came after American officials, including President Donald Trump, said earlier in the weekend that negotiations were progressing well.

Trump said in a social media post earlier Monday that Iran’s enriched uranium “will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed” or “destroyed in place” in Iran or at another acceptable location, underlining an outstanding sticking point in negotiations with Iran. Trump added that the Atomic Energy Commission “or its equivalent” should play a role in overseeing the process.

The strikes come more than a month after Trump announced the U.S. had agreed to a temporary ceasefire with Iran, averting a worst-case scenario attack in which he had threatened to destroy a “whole civilization,” and hours after Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ramp up his country’s offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, a conflict adjacent to the war in Iran that has strained peace negotiations in recent weeks.

The prospect of an imminent peace deal has been floated throughout the holiday weekend, particularly after Trump skipped his eldest son’s wedding to remain in Washington for “circumstances pertaining to government.”

On Saturday, Trump had signaled that a deal with Iran was imminent, writing in a post to Truth Social that “final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly.”

But one day later, Trump wrote in a separate post that he had directed U.S. negotiators “not to rush into a deal,” even as he emphasized that talks had been constructive thus far.

And in a lengthy post Monday morning, the president indicated there were still details being ironed out: “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 his post, he called on leaders across the Arab world to sign on to the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel, saying he is “mandatorily requesting” they sign on as part of the peace process in the Middle East.

The accords — which Trump kicked off at the end of his first term, and he views as a key part of his legacy — could be a sticking point among some countries in the region still wary of Israel.

Some Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), had expressed skepticism about a possible deal over the weekend, urging the president not to reward Iran for using the Strait of Hormuz as a point of leverage during the war.

Trump later shot back at his naysayers in a Monday morning post, calling them “losers” who “do nothing but create division.”

The war in Iran has strained the global economy, as energy prices have skyrocketed since the U.S. and Israel launched the initial strikes and Iran clamped down on the strait, a crucial waterway through which a significant amount of the region’s oil travels through.

The fate of the strait — in addition to the future of Iran’s nuclear program and its enriched uranium stockpile — is likely to be one of the biggest points of discussion in any negotiations.

المصدر: Politico