Iran supreme leader says region will 'no longer serve as shields' for US bases

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Tuesday that regional countries would no longer be shields for US bases and the ‌US ​will ‌no ‌longer have a safe haven ‌in the region, in a written statement carried by state television.

"What is certain in this regard is that the hands of time will not turn backwards, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases," said Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since he took office in March, in a message marking the Eid al-Adha holiday.

He said the United States "in addition to no longer having any safe haven in the region for aggression and the establishment of military bases, is moving further and further away from its former position with each passing day".

The remarks come as Iran and the United States continued exchanges aimed at reaching a deal to end the war which began on February 28 and spread across the region.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 8.

Iran's foreign ministry has said Tehran and Washington reached understandings on many issues in exchanges over a deal for ending the war, but warned an agreement was not yet imminent.

On Monday, the US Central Command said forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines, despite the ceasefire.

Iran has not officially confirmed the US attack but state media reported blasts in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas without specifying their source.

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, succeeded his father Ali Khamenei who was killed in the opening US-Israel strikes of February 28, triggering retaliatory attacks by Tehran across the region.

Iran Guards 'down' US drone

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that they had downed a US drone and shot at other aircraft entering the country's airspace.

US military aircraft "entered Iranian airspace in the Persian Gulf region, and air defence units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps... identified and shot down an MQ-9 drone," the Guards said in a statement on their Sepah News website.

The Guards forces "also fired upon an RQ-4 drone and an intruding F-35 fighter jet," the statement said, without specifying when the incidents took place.

China urges 'parties concerned' to observe ceasefire

China on Tuesday urged "parties concerned" to observe a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East war, after US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran as well as boats trying to lay mines.

"We urge the parties concerned to fulfil their ceasefire commitments, resolve disputes through peaceful means... and promote the early restoration of peace," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news briefing when asked for China's reaction.

US launches new attacks on Iran

The US military attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines on Monday, US Central Command said, imperilling a fragile ceasefire and casting new doubt on a deal to end the Middle East war.

The strikes came as top Iranian negotiators arrived in Doha for the latest round of talks to end the months-long conflict, and as the Israeli military stepped up hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Oil prices fluctuated in wake of the US strikes, which may threaten any agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where an Iranian blockade has choked global fuel supplies.

"US forces conducted self-defence strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces," Tim Hawkins, a US Central Command spokesman, said in a statement.

It gave no details of the attacks and said only that the targets included missile launch sites and boats trying to "emplace mines."

Iran's state-run broadcaster IRIB reported several loud explosions were heard in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas at around midnight local time (2030 GMT Monday).

It added the situation in the southern port city was normal and local authorities were investigating the cause of the blasts.

The strikes threatened a ceasefire that began April 8 as the United States and Iran struggle to reach an accord to end a war that has rattled the global economy with a severe disruption of energy flows.

Oil prices remained below $100 on Tuesday morning, with West Texas Intermediate dropping more than five percent while international benchmark Brent crude was up.

Hopes of an accord took another blow when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "crush" Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran has demanded that any peace accord apply to the fighting in Lebanon as well.

Trump also said in a social media post he expected Iran to hand over its enriched uranium to the United States to be destroyed, or have it 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," Trump wrote.

It was not clear whether he meant this would be part of a potential accord with Iran, and the commission he cited was abolished in 1974.

Earlier Monday, Trump said it should be mandatory for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, Bahrain and Jordan to sign up to the Abraham Accords, a set of agreements brokered in 2020 with nations historically hostile to Israel, as part of a peace deal with Iran.

Trump said he had spoken to the leaders of those countries Saturday about efforts to end the war. Bahrain and the UAE have already signed the accords, along with Morocco and Sudan.

The US-Iranian ceasefire has held while diplomats push for a negotiated settlement, although Iran has maintained controls on Gulf shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the US Navy has sought to blockade Iran's ports.

While the Abraham Accords were welcomed by some, they remain deeply unpopular in many parts of the Middle East -- in part because they fail to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Gulf heavyweights like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have said they will never normalize ties with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is created.

-     Deal ‘still possible’ -

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that a deal with Iran was still possible despite new American strikes that cast doubt on their fragile ceasefire.

"There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so 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 in Jaipur during a visit to India.

"The president's expressed his desire to make it. He's either going to make a good deal or no deal," he said.

The strikes came as top Iranian negotiators arrived in Doha for the latest round of talks to end the months-long conflict, which had prompted Iran to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial artery for global energy exports.

Rubio told reporters that "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."

- 'Going crazy' -

Anna Jacobs of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington said it was unlikely that Gulf nations would bow to Trump's latest demand.

"The national security of the Gulf states has been threatened more than ever before because of President Trump's reckless decisions, and he expects Arab states to thank him and to normalize relations with Israel, which they will not do at this stage," she said.

Trump's maximalist demand came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested a deal could be reached within the day.

"We thought we might have some news last night, maybe today," Rubio told reporters during a visit to New Delhi.

But Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei poured cold water on hopes for a quick final settlement. "It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion," he told a weekly news briefing.

"But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent -- no one can make such a claim."

- 'Critical moment' -

Netanyahu said Monday that he had ordered the military to intensify its offensive in Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of targeting Israeli forces with drone attacks.

"I have ordered an even greater acceleration of our operations," Netanyahu said in a video statement posted on his Telegram channel.

The Israeli leader said Sunday that he and Trump had agreed that "any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear threat entirely" before peace was reached.

Iranian officials have stressed that, despite the longstanding US demand for an end to its uranium enrichment, talks on the issue of the Islamic republic's nuclear program have been deferred until after an initial agreement.