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. (Read More)
