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The United States said it had attacked Iranian troops over the weekend and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Monday it had targeted a US base, the latest attack amid talks to end the three-month war.
The US and Iran have been exchanging strikes since it took effect in early April as a joint deal aimed at a tough deal continues. A similar exchange took place last Thursday and was described in almost identical terms on both sides.
Over the weekend, the US strikes on Iran’s Gulf coast were in response to Iran’s “aggressive actions including the shooting down of a US MQ-1 fighter jet that was operating in international waters,” US Central Command said in an X post.
“US warplanes responded quickly by eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two submarines that posed clear threats to ships passing through regional waters,” CENTCOM said, adding that it would continue to protect US assets and interests during the ongoing ceasefire.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday it was targeting an air base used by the US in response to an attack in southern Iran, without identifying which base.
Iran targeted a US airbase in Kuwait on Thursday with drone and missile strikes, all of which were repelled, in what US Central Command called a ‘serious violation of the ceasefire.’
The air force in Kuwait, where a major US base is located, repelled missile and drone attacks on Monday as a nationwide alarm sounded, KUNA news agency reported, without giving further details.
The war launched by the US and Israel on February 28 has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and caused pain in the global economy by increasing energy prices due to Iran’s successful closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Pressure to open the Strait of Hormuz
In a late-night message, US President Donald Trump did not comment on the exchange of arguments, repeating his unconfirmed claim that Iran “really wants to make a deal.”
He criticized critics, including those he described as “republicans who seem to have no country,” for “tweeting” negative comments about the talks to end the conflict.
“Just relax, everything will be alright in the end – It always is!” he said.
Trump is under pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lower US fuel prices ahead of November’s congressional elections, as voters show growing frustration with rising prices. At the same time, he faces a possible backlash from Iran hawks in his party over any concessions to Tehran.
Oil prices rose nearly 2 percent in Asia on Monday as a lack of progress in talks kept traders nervous.
Trump said his main goal in the war is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon from highly enriched uranium. Tehran has always denied that it has any plans to do so.
The two sides are still at odds over a number of other issues, such as Tehran’s demands for an end to sanctions and the release of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks.
Israeli soldiers will enter Lebanon
Israel’s war in Lebanon with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia is another major obstacle.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he ordered the army to advance in Lebanon in the fight against the Iranian-based terrorist group Hezbollah.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Netanyahu about diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon and proposed a plan to allow for a “gradual de-escalation,” the U.S. official said.
