US strikes missile sites in southern Iran despite ceasefire talks

US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines on Monday US Central Command said imperiling a fragile ceasefire and casting new doubt on a deal to end the Middle East warThe strikes came as top Iranian negotiators arrived in Doha for the latest round of talks to end the monthslong conflict and as the Israeli military stepped up hostilities with Iranbacked Hezbollah in southern LebanonOil prices fluctuated in the wake of the US strikes which may threaten any agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz where an Iranian blockade has throttled global fuel suppliesUS forces conducted selfdefense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces Tim Hawkins a Central Command spokesman said in a statementIt gave no details of the attacks and said only that the targets included missile launch sites and boats trying to emplace minesDespite the strikes Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday a deal remained within reach but struck a firm note on the Hormuz straitThere were some talks going on in Qatar today so well see if we can make progress I think its a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document so itll take a few days Rubio told reporters during a visit to India without commenting about the impact of the strikesHe said the strait was going to be open one way or the other adding Whats happening there is unlawful its illegal its unsustainable for the world its unacceptableIrans staterun broadcaster IRIB reported several loud explosions were heard in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas at around midnight local time 2030 GMT MondayIt added the situation in the southern port city was normal and local authorities were investigating the cause of the blastsThe strikes threatened a 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 flowsOil prices fluctuated on Tuesday morning but remained below 100 with West Texas Intermediate dropping more than five percent while international benchmark Brent crude was upHopes of an accord took another blow when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to crush Hezbollah in Lebanon Iran has demanded that any peace accord apply to the fighting in Lebanon as wellNuclear fuel disposalTrump also said in a social media post he expected Iran to hand over its enriched uranium to the United States to be destroyed or have it destroyed in Iran with an international witnessThe nuclear fuel will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or preferably in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran destroyed in place or at another acceptable location with the Atomic Energy Commission or its equivalent being witness to this process and event Trump wroteIt was not clear whether he meant this would be part of a potential accord with Iran and the commission he cited was abolished in 1974Earlier Monday Trump said it should be mandatory for Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates Qatar Pakistan Egypt Turkey Bahrain and Jordan to join the Abraham Accords a set of agreements brokered in 2020 with nations historically hostile to Israel as part of a peace deal with IranTrump said he had spoken to the leaders of those countries Saturday about efforts to end the war Bahrain and the UAE have already signed the accords along with Morocco and SudanWhile the Abraham Accords were welcomed by some they remain deeply unpopular in many parts of the Middle East in part because they fail to address the IsraeliPalestinian conflictGulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar have said normalisation with Israel depends on the creation of a Palestinian stateNo imminent dealAnna Jacobs of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington said Gulf nations were unlikely to accept Trumps maximalist demandThe national security of the Gulf states has been threatened more than ever before because of President Trumps reckless decisions and he expects Arab states to thank him and to normalise relations with Israel which they will not do at this stage she saidBefore the strikes on Iran Rubio had suggested a deal could be reached by the end of MondayIrans foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said both sides had reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues but that it did not mean an agreement was imminentNetanyahu said Monday he had ordered an even greater acceleration of the Israeli offensive in Lebanon following Hezbollah drone attacks on Israeli forcesHe said any final deal with Iran must eliminate the nuclear threat entirely a position echoed by WashingtonIranian officials have stressed that despite the longstanding US demand for an end to its uranium enrichment talks on its nuclear program have been deferred until after an initial agreementThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday 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