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The US said it launched new strikes on southern Iran on Monday, targeting Iranian missile sites and boats attempting to place mines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The strikes were taken in “self-defence”\u00a0<\/b>and were designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces”, US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday it had downed a US drone and fired at a fighter jet and another drone that entered Iranian airspace, state media reported. It did not specify when this happened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It added that Iran had the “legitimate and definite” right to retaliate against any US ceasefire violations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “US forces conducted self-defence strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” Centcom spokesperson Capt Tim Hawkins said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n “US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”<\/p>\n Capt Hawkins added the US strikes targeted an area near Bandar Abbas, a southern port city and home of an Iranian naval base that sits on the Strait of Hormuz, according to the New York Times.<\/p>\n Iranian state media had earlier reported that local officials in Bandar Abbas were investigating after explosions were heard.<\/p>\n It is unclear what impact the latest US strikes will have on any potential peace agreement between the US and Iran.<\/p>\n Following the US strikes, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal was still possible and pointed to talks on Tuesday between Iran’s top negotiator and foreign minister and Qatar’s prime minister.<\/p>\n “We’ll see if we can make progress. I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it’ll take a few days,” Rubio told reporters during an official visit to India.<\/p>\n He said President Donald Trump had “expressed his desire to make it”.<\/p>\n “He’s either going to make a good deal or no deal,” Rubio said.<\/p>\n Asked again later about Monday’s strikes, Rubio said: “The straits have to be open. They’re going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open. What’s happening there is unlawful, it’s illegal, it’s unsustainable for the world, it’s unacceptable.”<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said the Middle East “will no longer serve as shields for US bases”.<\/p>\n Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since succeeding his late father as supreme leader earlier this year, made the comments on Tuesday in a message marking the annual Hajj pilgrimage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n