Tensions are rising again in the Middle East this Thursday, May 28 as the US military shot down four Iranian drones and carried out strikes on a ground base in southern Iran, which responded by targeting an American base and ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States shot down four Iranian drones and carried out strikes on a ground base in the south of the country during the night of Wednesday May 27 to Thursday May 28, leading to retaliation from Tehran which targeted an American base, in what constitutes the most serious clashes since the start of the ceasefire.
Four attack drones that posed a “threat around the Strait of Hormuz” were shot down, a US official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the US military had also struck “a ground control station in Bandar Abbas which threatened to launch a fifth drone.”
“These actions were measured, purely defensive and carried out with the intention of maintaining the ceasefire,” he said.
An American base targeted
Iranian media had previously reported three strong explosions near Bandar Abbas, a port city on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, around 1:30 a.m. Thursday (12 a.m. in Paris).
In retaliation, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced Thursday that they had targeted an American base. They did not specify which one, but for its part, the Kuwaiti army announced Thursday that it was facing “attacks carried out by missiles and drones”.
Iranian forces also fired warning shots at four ships trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz, state television (Irib) said on Thursday, without providing details on the type of ships or their nationality.
These incidents are the most serious since the truce that came into force on April 8, after more than a month of Israeli-American strikes which left thousands dead.
Strikes in Lebanon
Bombings and fighting also continue in Lebanon, despite another ceasefire theoretically in force since April 17.
The Israeli army announced Thursday that it had struck targets of the pro-Iranian Shiite movement Hezbollah in Tyre, in the south of the country, a day after having warned that it considered as a “combat zone” all the territory located south of the Zahrani, a river flowing about forty kilometers north of the border between Israel and Lebanon.
Negotiations between Iran and the United States to end the conflict are laborious, and the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked by Iran, which has made black gold more expensive and shaken the world economy.
On Wednesday, American President Donald Trump once again threatened a resumption of hostilities.
Iran “really wants to make a deal. They’re not there yet. We’re not satisfied but we will be eventually (…). Or we’ll just have to finish the job,” he said.
In morning trading Thursday in Asia, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, the main international reference, increased by almost 2% to settle at 96.13 dollars, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the American benchmark for crude oil, gained 1.75%. at 90.23 dollars per barrel.
Going “from worst to bad”
In Iran, internet access has been partially restored after a cut of almost three months. Connections remain erratic, with mobile data still largely cut off, many sites filtered and messaging services difficult to access.
“It’s not happiness or joy (that I feel, Editor’s note), I just have the impression that we have gone from worst to bad,” reacted to AFP Bahareh, 32, nutritionist in Tehran.
“We ask ourselves every day: ‘Will there be missile strikes tonight?'” describes Amir, a 27-year-old software developer, also from the Iranian capital. Iran said it was finalizing a 14-point framework agreement with the United States, prioritizing ending the war “on all fronts”, including in Lebanon.
“The draft framework agreement (…) is a total invention,” reacted the White House.
According to Iranian television, the protocol under discussion notably provides for a commitment by the United States to lift its blockade of Iranian ports in return for the reestablishment of commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally transit. consumed around the world.
On Wednesday, the US Treasury announced sanctions against Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, Tehran’s new agency responsible for collecting passage fees through Hormuz. Tehran is also seeking the release of 24 billion in assets frozen abroad, “with half made available upon announcement of the memorandum of understanding”, according to the Iranian agency Isna.
This is one of the main points of contention, alongside the nuclear aspect which Iran wishes to address in a second step. The United States is demanding the destruction of its stock of highly enriched uranium, the fate of which is uncertain. Tehran, for its part, denies that it wants to acquire an atomic bomb.
