By Sabiu Abdullahi
The United States military has confirmed fresh strikes on targets in southern Iran despite ongoing diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran in Qatar.
According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the operation targeted what it described as threats against American troops in the region. The strikes happened while senior Iranian officials were in Doha for negotiations aimed at securing a broader peace agreement.
CENTCOM described the operation as “self-defence strikes”.
“Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines,” Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson, said in a statement to Al Jazeera late on Monday.
“US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”
The US military did not release additional details about the operation.
Iranian sources told Al Jazeera that members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had earlier targeted a vessel at sea before the US response. The sources also claimed that several IRGC personnel died in the attacks.
The latest military action comes even though a ceasefire between the United States and Iran has officially remained in effect since April 8.
Al Jazeera correspondent Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, DC, said the incident could affect ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the US-Israel conflict involving Iran. He noted that President Donald Trump appeared eager to secure an agreement.
“There have been a number of skirmishes like this, particularly just after the start of the ceasefire. At the time, Trump said he didn’t consider these to be a breach of the ceasefire,” Fisher said.
“There is very limited information coming from the US side; we don’t know the extent of the operation,” he said.
“It’s hard to say whether this skirmish is unusual.”
Earlier on Monday, a senior Iranian delegation arrived in Doha to address obstacles delaying a permanent peace agreement. The delegation included Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Trump later said negotiations were “proceeding nicely”, although he stressed that Washington would only accept a major agreement.
“It will only be a Great Deal for all or, no Deal at all — Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before — And nobody wants that!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The US president also linked the talks to efforts aimed at persuading more Muslim-majority countries to establish formal relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords.
“It may be possible that one or two have a reason for not doing so, and that will be accepted, but most should be ready, willing, and able to make this Settlement with Iran a far more Historic Event than it would, otherwise, be,” Trump wrote.
The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020 during Trump’s first term, led to diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. Sudan also agreed to normalise relations with Israel, although the agreement has not yet received formal approval.
In another social media post, Trump said he expected Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile to either be handed over to the United States or “destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event”.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged that progress had been made in discussions with Washington, but officials insisted that a final agreement was still some distance away.
“To say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion would be correct. However, to say that this means an agreement is on the verge of being signed is not something anyone can claim,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.
Baghaei also told reporters in Tehran that the current discussions were focused on ending the conflict rather than Iran’s nuclear activities, which he said were not under discussion “at this stage”.
