U.S. Strikes Southern Iran’s Hormozgan, Iran Calls It Gross Ceasefire Violation

Iran’s foreign ministry said U.S. strikes in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province were a "gross violation" of a truce in place for nearly seven weeks, as Iranian media reported sounds of explosions early on Tuesday.

“Despite the latest U”

ABC News

The Independent reported that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on his Telegram channel, “The clock cannot be turned back, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer be a shield for American bases.”

ABC News

CBS News said Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that a deal was still possible as President Trump sought either to "make a good deal," or no deal at all.

NBC News reported that U.S. officials said the strikes were in direct response to what they described as 24 hours of missile, drone and small boat launches by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps near the Strait of Hormuz.

Al Jazeera said the U.S. claimed it carried out “self-defence strikes” to protect U.S. troops from threats posed by Iranian forces, while Iranian media reported explosions in Bandar Abbas, some 70km (42 miles) from the Strait of Hormuz.

Despite the renewed fighting, ABC News reported that talks toward an initial agreement to end the war continued in Doha on Tuesday, with a high-level Iranian delegation and Qatari mediators meeting in the city while the Trump administration’s negotiators participated from afar.

ABC News also said officials were working on an initial memorandum of understanding that would end the conflict and gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while nuclear issues were negotiated over at least 60 days.

Al Jazeera

CNN reported that disputes over language concerning Iran’s nuclear program and sanctions have held up a deal, quoting Rubio as saying there are “disagreements over a word, a sentence.”

NPR reported that the U.S. military announced it struck Iranian boats and missile launch sites in Southern Iran, with Capt. Tim Hawkins saying the military acted in "self-defense."

The Guardian said Iran’s foreign ministry denounced the U.S. attack as “an act of bad faith” and “a definitive violation of the ceasefire,” while also saying it did not pull out of talks continuing under Pakistan and Qatar mediation.

The Guardian said the brief agreement would end the war but not delineate the peace, and it described a 30-day timeframe for the U.S. to lift the blockade of Iranian oil ports and for Iran to allow commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz.

The Guardian also reported that Iran’s parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf remained in Doha for a second day trying to agree the means by which more than $12bn (£9bn) in frozen Iranian assets could be unlocked and sent to an Iranian account.

BBC reported that Trump gave Iran a choice to surrender highly enriched uranium to the United States for destruction there or to destroy it in Iran under international supervision with the Atomic Energy Organization, or its equivalent, witnessing the process.

France 24 said Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters that Iran is seriously and in good faith pursuing the negotiating track despite its "doubts" toward Washington, while also calling for ending all fighting, including in Lebanon, and the release of Iranian assets.

The Independent said both sides had earlier indicated progress on a memorandum of understanding that could halt the war and restart shipping through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, while giving negotiators 60 days to negotiate more complex issues including Iran's nuclear programme.