The United States conducted fresh strikes on Iranian boats and missile launch facilities on Monday, calling it an act of self-defence. The strikes took place as U.S President Donald Trump continued to issue warnings to Iran to hand over its stockpile of enriched uranium.
A spokesperson for the U.S Central Command, Tim Hawkins, said in a statement, “U.S forces conducted self-defence strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”
He did not elaborate on the nature of the attacks but said it targeted missile launch sites and boats trying to lay mines.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, demanding Tehran to turn over its enriched uranium to Washington or have it be destroyed in Iran with an international witness.
“The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were in Doha for talks with Qatar’s Prime Minister on a possible deal with the United States to end the war.
New countries to join the Abraham Accords?
President Trump said on Monday that negotiations with Iran were going “nicely” but emphasised his requirement for any new deal to include a provision for additional countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, and Jordan to join the Abraham Accords, which is a U.S-brokered agreement initated by Trump in his first term aimed at normalising diplomatic relations with Israel. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates joined the agreement in 2020.
Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey have already formally recognised Israel but Saudi Arabia and Pakistan stand firm on wanting to establish a clear path for Palestinian statehood before normalising relations with Tel Aviv.
Trump said, “After all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords.”
He said he brought up the provision with the respective leaders on Saturday and asserted that most should be willing, although he would accept “one or two” countries declining to sign the agreement.
