Reports emerging from the Middle East indicate to that US and Iranian forces clashed near the Strait of Hormuz last night amidst ongoing negotiations for an interim peace deal.
The exchange of strikes came hours after US President Donald Trump said negotiations with Tehran to extend their ceasefire and reopen the strait are proceeding, though Secretary of State Marco Rubio added Tuesday that a deal would likely take a few days to finalize.
The US said it launched new strikes on southern Iran on Monday, targeting Iranian missile sites and boats attempting to place mines.
The strikes were in “self-defence” and designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces”, US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday it had downed a US drone and fired at a fighter jet and another drone that entered Iranian airspace, state media reported. It did not specify when this happened.
It added that Iran had the “legitimate and definite” right to retaliate against any US ceasefire violations.
“US forces conducted self-defence strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” Centcom spokesperson Capt Tim Hawkins said in a statement on Monday.
