The United States claims to have carried out several attacks in southern Iran in an operation described as “legitimate defense.” Washington maintains that the targets were missile launch platforms and Iranian vessels that were allegedly trying to place mines in the area.
Meanwhile, the possible agreement to reduce tension remains unrealized and Donald Trump demands that the Gulf countries join the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel, a request to which several governments in the region respond by first demanding recognition of the Palestinian State by Tel Aviv. At the same time, Benjamin Netanyahu maintains the intensification of Israeli operations against Hezbollah militias in Lebanon.
Several American media reported the attacks, citing sources from the Central Command of the United States Armed Forces (Centcom). Timothy Hawkins, a Centcom spokesman, explained to Fox News that the operation occurred in a context of “legitimate defense” to protect US troops against threats attributed to Iranian forces.
“Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian vessels attempting to lay mines,” Hawkins added. According to a source from President Donald Trump’s Administration cited by the US network, the forces also acted against what appeared to be a missile position that could have targeted US fighter jets.
Trump had previously authorized US forces to respond to possible Iranian provocations around the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic route for global energy trade. Hawkins also stressed that Centcom “continues to defend our forces, while exercising restraint” during the ceasefire currently in effect.
These moves come at a time when the United States and Iran have intensified their diplomatic contacts and are working on a possible agreement to end the conflict. The White House maintains the expectation of being able to close an agreement in the coming days, although Tehran has lowered that optimism and has indicated that an understanding is not imminent.
Leaks that appeared in the US media suggest that the agreement could include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a relief from the economic sanctions imposed on Iran, while the nuclear issue would be postponed to a later phase. That approach has already generated criticism among several Republican senators close to Trump.
Rubio confirms that negotiations continue
In this context, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, assured this Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open “in one way or another” and confirmed that negotiations with Iran remain active, although he warned that important discrepancies still persist in the draft of the agreement.
“It’s going to take a couple of days to reach an agreement even on disagreements over a word or a phrase. So we’ll have to work on that. But either it’s going to be a good deal or there’s not going to be one,” Rubio told reporters in the Indian city of Jaipur.
For his part, Trump has tried throughout the day to downplay doubts about the negotiating process. The president stated in the morning that Iran “will never obtain” a nuclear weapon and, hours later, he insisted in a message published on his social network that Iran’s reserves of enriched uranium will end up being handed over to the United States for destruction.
