WASHINGTON: U.S. and Iranian forces launched airstrikes against each other’s military positions over the weekend near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, as both sides reported hitting targeted sites and diplomatic efforts for a permanent deal showed no progress.
U.S. Central Command said it carried out “self-defense strikes on Iranian radar and command and control sites for drones in Goruk, Iran and Qeshm Island this weekend.”
The strikes Saturday and Sunday were in response to “aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,” Centcom said.
In a post on X, Centcom said U.S. fighters struck Iranian military air defenses, a ground control station and two drones that it said “posed a clear threat to ships transiting through regional waters.” No American service members were injured, the military said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck an air base used by U.S. forces in retaliation but did not specify the location. The IRGC later said it targeted an airbase the U.S. had used to carry out strikes on an Iranian communications tower on Sirri Island in the Gulf, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Iran’s southern coastline.
According to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, the IRGC warned that its response would be “completely different” if U.S. aggression was “repeated.”
Kuwait’s military said it was “confronting hostile missile and drone attacks” using its air-defense systems but did not specify where interceptions were occurring. Tehran had targeted an air base in Kuwait last week in response to earlier U.S. strikes, which the U.S. said were aimed at preventing Iranian boats and missile strikes from laying mines around the shipping channel.
Earlier, U.S. media reported that President Donald Trump had requested “edits” to the latest terms of a proposal that could lead to a peace deal. On Sunday, Trump sought changes to an existing deal, which Iran dismissed as “speculation.”
While a ceasefire took effect April 8, Trump has repeatedly suggested the U.S. and Iran were close to a permanent deal and that negotiations were progressing. No formal agreement has been reached.
The latest iteration of the deal included a 60-day cessation of violence, a call to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and a framework to reopen negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, according to CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. partner.
About one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments typically pass through the Gulf shipping channel. The de facto trade embargo has placed upward pressure on fuel prices worldwide.
Oil prices climbed on Monday after Israel ordered its troops to advance further into Lebanon, reigniting fears that ongoing clashes with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah could jeopardize a fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, rose 2.43% to $93.33 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures gained 2.76% to $89.77 per barrel.
The escalation in hostilities, which came just days after U.S.-brokered Israeli-Lebanon talks in Washington on Friday, dampened hopes that the U.S. and Iran were close to extending their current ceasefire agreement.
