War in the Middle East: US military announces strikes in southern Iran

Washington – The United States announced Monday that it had struck missile sites in southern Iran, despite apparent progress in negotiations to reach a settlement to the war in the Middle East.

After weeks of blockages and threats, both Washington and Tehran have reported progress in recent days in the discussions. Donald Trump had even presented the announcement of a compromise as imminent over the weekend, which he decided to spend at the White House, while the American press and the Iranian media were distilling the details of a future plan to exit the conflict.

But hopes for peace were dampened on Monday, firstly by the announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of an intensification of the offensive led by his army in Lebanon, then by an attack against Iran.

“US forces today conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces. The targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to lay mines,” the US Middle East Command (Centcom) said in a statement.

Iranian media reported that several loud explosions were heard in Bandar Abbas (south) around midnight (8:30 p.m. GMT). State television then clarified that the situation had returned to normal on site, adding that an investigation was underway to determine the origin of these noises.

The American army specified “to show restraint during the ceasefire” in force since April 8 between Iran and the United States after armed operations which left thousands dead and shook the world economy.

Donald Trump is looking for a way out of this unpopular war in his country, which has seriously disrupted the world economy due to the blockage of the strategic Strait of Hormuz by Tehran, through which a fifth of the crude oil and liquefied natural gas consumed in the world normally transits.

Oil prices reacted in a contrasting manner to the latest developments, after falling back below the $100 mark on Monday. WTI lost 5.4% on Tuesday morning in Asia, while the barrel of Brent gained 1.6%.

Nuclear question

The last few hours had been marked by a new acceleration of diplomatic exchanges to bring about an end to the conflict.

Senior Iranian officials, including chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the central bank governor, visited Doha on Monday. It is the first visit of this type since the retaliatory strikes carried out by Tehran against its Gulf neighbors.

Donald Trump had already tempered hopes of an imminent agreement, saying he did not want to “rush” and warning that he would only sign an “excellent” agreement.

Tehran was also cautious. “We have reached a conclusion on a large part of the issues,” commented the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaïl Baghaï. “But to say that the signing of an agreement is imminent, no one can say that.”

At the same time, a delegation from Pakistan including the main mediator in the conflict and the head of the army Asim Munir as well as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was in China on Monday, a country supporting Pakistani efforts to resolve the crisis.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, de facto blocked by Iran since the start of the war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, is a major issue in the conflict.

Donald Trump spoke on Saturday of a “widely negotiated” compromise providing for its reopening, while Iran insists that the nuclear issue is not part “at this stage” of the protocol under discussion and that it would be addressed during separate negotiations.

Monday evening, President Trump raised the issue of Iranian enriched uranium, one of the key points of the conflict, affirming that it would be “either immediately handed over to the United States (…) and destroyed, or, preferably, in collaboration and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed on site or in another acceptable place”.

It is unclear whether the American leader meant by this that this was a point of the agreement under discussion.

Violations in Lebanon

Earlier Monday, he also appeared to raise the stakes for a possible peace deal.

In a long post on social media, he listed the leaders of predominantly Muslim countries with whom he spoke in recent days, saying that “after all the work done by the United States (…) all these countries should be obliged, at a minimum, to sign the agreements simultaneously of Abraham.”

Signed in 2020, these agreements led to a normalization of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, two close allies of Washington in the Gulf, with Israel.

But many states have so far refused to join this process, in particular Saudi Arabia as well as Syria and Lebanon, especially since the conflict which devastated the Gaza Strip.

On the Lebanese front, another ceasefire has been concluded since April 17, but Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah accuse each other of violating it, continuing their daily attacks.

And Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed Monday that Israel was going to “intensify” its offensive to “crush” Hezbollah, after dozens of Israeli strikes which left three dead, according to the Lebanese national information agency, ANI.

Hezbollah, for its part, claimed responsibility for a series of attacks against three barracks and a military post in northern Israel.

Offices in Tehran, Dubai, Beirut and Washington

© Agence France-Presse