Four IRGC members said killed in strikes

US attacks missile sites in Iran despite ceasefire, says it acted to defend troops

Khamenei warns US will no longer be able to use Gulf states as safe haven; Rubio insists deal still possible but is ‘a few days’ away; Trump: Tehran must hand over enriched uranium or destroy it

US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines on Monday, US Central Command said, as top Iranian negotiators arrived in Doha for talks to end the war.

In the aftermath of the strikes, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued a thinly veiled threat, warning that the US would no longer have any safe havens in the region.

“US forces conducted self-defense 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.”

Unconfirmed reports from Iran claimed four Revolutionary Guards members were killed in American strikes in southern Iran’s Bandar Abbas.

Iranian media reported explosions were heard in the port city and coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz. The Mehr news agency said the situation in Bandar Abbas was under control.

Hours later, the IRGC said it had downed a US drone and shot at other aircraft attempting to enter the country’s airspace, without specifying when the incidents took place.

In a statement, the IRGC further warned “against any violation of the ceasefire by the aggressor US military and considers its right to reciprocal response legitimate and certain.”

The overnight strikes threatened an already fragile 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. Washington and Tehran have played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough.

There was no immediate reaction to the development by Iranian officials, although Khamenei published a statement on his Telegram channel warning that the Gulf powers would no longer be a shield for United States bases and that Washington would no longer have a safe haven in the region.

He said the US “in addition to no longer having any safe haven in the region for aggression and the establishment of military bases, is moving further and further away from its former position with each passing day.”

Several US bases in the Middle East were attacked by Iran during the recent war, and the Gulf states that host US assets were bombarded by missile and drone strikes.

Khamenei has not appeared publicly since he was named as Iran’s supreme leader on March 8 following the death of his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei. Since then, he has issued only written statements, fueling speculation about his health after he was injured in strikes.

Prior to the overnight flare-up of tensions, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New Delhi that the US would give diplomacy every chance to succeed before considering whether to deal with Iran in “another way.”

He doubled down on his remarks after the military action, saying that a deal with Iran was still possible, despite the strikes.

“There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress. I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it’ll take a few days,” Rubio told reporters in Jaipur during an official visit to India.

“The president expressed his desire to make it. He’s either going to make a good deal or no deal,” he said, warning that the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global shipping route, was “going to be open one way or another.”

“What’s happening there is unlawful, it’s illegal, it’s unsustainable for the world, it’s unacceptable,” Rubio added.

‘A Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all’

In a lengthy post on Truth Social on Monday, US President Donald Trump said talks with Iran were going “nicely,” but warned of fresh attacks if they failed. It “will only be a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all,” he wrote.

Trump also said in a social media post that 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 on Truth Social.

The Atomic Energy Commission was a US government agency that was abolished in 1974. The UN’s nuclear watchdog is called the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Trump also did not specify whether he was concerned only with the 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium in Iran’s possession, which is a short step away from weapons-grade, or if he was referring to its full stockpile, which US officials have reportedly insisted would need to be removed as part of any deal.

Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed that they are unwilling to discuss the nuclear issue until a memorandum of understanding allowing for a 60-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is reached.

A US official briefed on Monday’s talks in Doha nevertheless told Reuters that the discussions focused on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, while Iran’s central bank governor attended to discuss the potential release of frozen Iranian funds as part of a final deal.

While the US and Iranian forces have observed the ceasefire, Iran has maintained controls on Gulf shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the US Navy has sought to blockade Iran’s ports, extending a global energy crisis that began with the opening of US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

Oil prices fluctuated on Tuesday morning but remained below $100, with West Texas Intermediate dropping more than five percent while international benchmark Brent crude was up.

Escalating Lebanon offensive could threaten deal

On another front of the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he had ordered the military to intensify its offensive in Lebanon in an effort to “crush” Hezbollah, as the terror group continued to target Israel and its forces with drone attacks.

“I have ordered an even greater acceleration of our operations,” Netanyahu said in a video statement posted on his Telegram channel.

Iran has insisted that any deal with the US include a full ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued to trade blows despite an April 16 truce aimed at halting the deadliest spillover of the US-Israeli joint war on Iran.

Israel has avoided targeting the terror group in Beirut and other locations beyond southern Lebanon in recent weeks, facing pressure from Washington amid the talks with Iran.

According to Al Jazeera, Iran warned Washington following Netanyahu’s announcement that any Israeli strike in Beirut would jeopardize negotiations to end the war and reach a regional settlement.

Lebanese security sources said on Monday night that people had begun fleeing the southern suburbs of Beirut, a known Hezbollah stronghold, for fear of a renewed Israeli assault on the capital.