Iran, US trade strikes after Trump rejects Hormuz deal report

The oil prices rose 2.17 per cent to trade at $96.34 following fresh US strikes on Iranian military targets.

Later, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had struck a base used by US forces in Kuwait in response to attacks on an Iranian target near the Strait of Hormuz.

The US Central Command, tasked to West Asia, said, “Iran launched a ballistic missile towards Kuwait that was successfully intercepted by Kuwaiti forces.”

The IRGC launched five attack drones, which were successfully intercepted. "The launch of the sixth drone from an Iranian ground control site in Bandar Abbas was also prevented," the US Central Command said.

Earlier on Thursday, the IRGC blamed the US for the aggression and said it only retaliated. “Following this morning’s aggression by the US military against a location on the outskirts of the Bandar Abbas airport, the American airbase that served as the source of the attack was targeted,” it said.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran would “take all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty” and condemned what he called “the threatening rhetoric of American officials against Iran and several regional countries”.

“This is the third time since the ceasefire announcement that they have directly engaged militarily,” he said.

Meanwhile in the US, Trump expressed confidence that his administration was making headway in negotiations to end the war but rejected a report that he was close to a ⁠compromise deal with Tehran.

He dismissed an Iranian state TV report, which, citing an unofficial draft of an agreement, said commercial shipping would be restored through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels within a month, with Iran and Oman jointly managing traffic.

Asserting no single country would have control over the waterway, Trump went on to threaten Oman, a country with which the US has decades-long military and ⁠economic ties.

Trump said, “It’s international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them ⁠up. They understand that, they’ll be fine.” The Strait of Hormuz sits between Oman and Iran.

Trump added that he was not yet satisfied with a potential deal with Iran, and the US was not discussing easing sanctions on the country.

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, said Trump’s “rhetoric” would not force Tehran to back away from its demands to enrich uranium, wield authority over the Strait and seek lifting of sanctions.

“It is obvious Trump, who wants a way out of ⁠this strategic deadlock, alternates between issuing threats and appealing for an agreement,” Azizi posted on X.