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May 26 (Reuters) – Iran said the United States had violated a ceasefire after the U.S. conducted what it called defensive strikes in southern Iran, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said negotiating a deal to halt the conflict could “take a few days”.
Iran’s foreign ministry said U.S. strikes in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, where Iranian media reported sounds of explosions early on Tuesday, represented a “gross violation” of a tenuous ceasefire in place for nearly seven weeks.
Both sides had previously 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 tackle more complex issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iranian media reported that the country’s negotiators had been pushing for the memorandum to include the release of billions of dollars of frozen assets at talks in Qatar.
U.S. Central Command said late on Monday it had carried out the fresh strikes designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they reserved the right to retaliate. They said air defence units had downed a U.S. drone and fired at another drone and a fighter jet, which they said had entered Iranian airspace over the Gulf region.
According to Iranian sources, an initial deal would cover ending the war on all fronts, establishing a 30-day framework for restarting movement through the Strait of Hormuz, and possibly providing some financial relief, with more complex issues such as Iran’s nuclear program to be negotiated in a second phase.
Iran has been letting some ships through the strait, giving preference to vessels linked to countries with which it has alliances or close ties, and striking government-to-government agreements, Reuters has reported.
Trump has said his key aim in the war is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran denies any such plans.
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