MAY 26, 2026
U.S. military conducts strikes in southern Iran while ceasefire and peace negotiations remain ongoing
The U.S. military conducted strikes in southern Iran on Monday, targeting missile launch sites and boats it said were placing mines near the Strait of Hormuz. Washington described the strikes as defensive, stating forces acted with "restraint" during the ongoing ceasefire that began April 7. Iran's foreign ministry condemned the strikes as a ceasefire violation and warned of consequences, while negotiations toward a potential deal to end the war continued.
U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said American forces conducted "self-defense strikes" against Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps boats and surface-to-air missile sites near Bandar Abbas after detecting what the military assessed as mine-laying activity near the Strait of Hormuz. Hawkins said two IRGC boats were "eliminated" and missile launch sites destroyed, while U.S. Central Command stated the ceasefire remains in effect. Iran said four people were killed in the strike on the boats and reported that it had shot down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone and deterred other aircraft that entered its airspace.
Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday called the strikes evidence of "bad faith and unreliability" and warned that Washington would bear responsibility for "all consequences." The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had shot down and deterred drones and a fighter jet, according to Iran's official Mizan news agency, though the timing of that incident was not immediately specified. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf had traveled to Qatar as part of the ongoing talks, and U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that negotiations were "proceeding nicely."
Negotiations center on several overlapping issues, according to the Associated Press: reopening the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world's crude oil and natural gas passed before Tehran effectively closed it in retaliation for initial U.S.-Israeli strikes in February — Iran's nuclear program and stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and a U.S. military blockade of Iranian ports that began April 17. A senior U.S. administration official told reporters that a key requirement for any deal is a freeze on enrichment and the export of nearly 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium, summarized as "no dust, no dollars." Trump subsequently said the uranium would be handed over to the United States or destroyed in place, with international oversight.