Iran-US war latest: America launches fresh airstrikes on Iranian missile launch sites and mine-laying boats
The US launched fresh airstrikes against Iran, claiming the attacks were in “self-defense”.
American forces “conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” Central Command’s Captain Tim Hawkins said in a statement shared by US media Monday evening, Washington time.
“Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines,” the military spokesperson added.
The strikes come as US President Donald Trump vowed on Truth Social that any buried enriched uranium in Iran “will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed,” eradicated in Iran or “at another acceptable location”.
Trump has also demanded that countries including Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey sign peace agreements with Israel as part of an effort to end the Iran war.
Earlier Monday, Trump said on Truth Social that progress had been made on a draft agreement with Iran but that he would only accept a “great deal for all or no deal at all”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the US will either have a good agreement with Iran or deal with the country “another way”. Trump's counterterrorism chief who quit over Iran war says US is 'inviting escalation'
Donald Trump's counterterrorism chief, who quit over the Iran war, has said that the US is “inviting escalation,” following fresh strikes.
“Iran would have no incentive to mine the Strait of Hormuz if we weren’t there”, Joe Kent wrote on X in reaction to the US announcing defensive strikes on Iranian missile launch sites and mine-laying boats.
“Pull our forces out & Iran faces major pressure to open the Strait from the rest of the world & loses their justification”, Kent added. “Staying in our current posture is inviting escalation for zero gain”.
Kent, Trump’s former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned in March, claiming “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation”.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar26 May 2026 04:03US attacks Iran as Tehran ministers discuss peace deal in Qatar
The US launched fresh strikes on Iran while Tehran’s top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar's prime minister on a potential deal with the US to end the three-month-old war.
US Secretary of state Marco Rubio told reporters in New Delhi earlier that the US would give diplomacy every chance to succeed before considering whether to deal with Iran in "another way".
There was a "pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the strait (of Hormuz), get the strait open, enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter, and hopefully we can pull it off," Rubio said.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said talks with Iran were going "nicely", but warned of fresh attacks if they failed. It "will only be a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all," he wrote.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said in a briefing that conclusions had been reached on many topics but that did not mean the sides were close to agreement.
Baghaei said earlier that nuclear issues would only be negotiated on if the framework accord is agreed first.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar26 May 2026 04:02US launches fresh strikes against Iran
The US launched fresh airstrikes against Iran, claiming the attacks were in “self-defence”.
American forces “conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” Central Command’s Captain Tim Hawkins said in a statement.
“Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines,” the military spokesperson added.
Two Iranian boats were caught laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil passageway in the Middle East, a senior US official told Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin.
“The US military eliminated both IRGC vessels and also struck at a SAM (surface to air missile) site in Bandar Abbas that was targeting US warplanes,” Griffin wrote in an X post.
Two sources said the strikes do not indicate the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran is broken, per Griffin.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar26 May 2026 04:01Iran war briefing for Tuesday 26 May:The US has launched fresh airstrikes against Iran, Central Command said, claiming the attacks were "to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces"US secretary of state Marco Rubio said that the Strait of Hormuz has to be open "one way or the other" following the fresh strikesThe US struck Iran as Tehran's top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar's prime minister on a potential deal with WashingtonOil prices rose on Tuesday, with Brent futures rising more than 1 per cent in early Asian trade to $97.32 a barrel
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar26 May 2026 04:00
