(Bloomberg) The United States and Iran traded attacks overnight after President Donald Trump retaliated against Tehran for shooting down an American Apache helicopter.
The clashes further undermined a two-month truce and exposed the fragility of negotiations between the conflicting sides, which aimed to guarantee lasting peace in the Middle East.
The US military said it had completed an operation in which fighter jets attacked Iranian air defenses, ground control stations and radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched missiles at four American targets, including shelters housing F-35 fighter jets and a US military command center at Al-Azraq Air Base in Jordan, state news agency IRIB reported on Wednesday.
Iran also claimed to have fired drones at the main US naval base in the Middle East, located in Bahrain, and attacked the Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait. Tehran has warned countries in the region not to allow the US to use their territories for attacks against the Islamic Republic.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in either attack.
As indirect negotiations between Iran and the US on an interim agreement — which aims to extend the ceasefire for two months and reopen the Strait of Hormuz — continue, the clashes have highlighted the high tension that exists. They followed attacks between Iran and Israel earlier this week, which prompted Trump to call on both countries to stop.
Trump has repeatedly said that a deal with Iran is within reach and, even with the recent escalation of tensions, has signaled that he wants to contain hostilities and avoid a return to all-out war. Pressure on him to end a conflict that has killed thousands of people in the Middle East and sent energy prices soaring, including in the United States, is increasing.
Oil prices showed little change on Wednesday, with Brent falling 0.1% to US$91.37 a barrel. This stability suggests that markets are broadly confident that Tehran and Washington will reach an agreement, even if skirmishes continue in the interim. Prices, while still significantly higher since the start of the war in February, have fallen from highs of around $118 in late April.
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Iranian news agency Mehr reported that several explosions were heard on the island of Qeshm in the Bandar Abbas region of southern Iran, as well as along the southern coast. Other Iranian media outlets said water reservoirs in Sirik in Hormozgan province were hit, cutting off drinking water supplies.
The US military described its operations as a “proportionate response to recent attacks against US forces and international commercial vessels transiting regional waters”.
The two pilots of the Apache helicopter were rescued after the aircraft was hit while patrolling the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week. An American official, who asked not to be identified due to the ongoing investigation, said that initial indications point to the helicopter crashing after a collision with a Shahed drone and that US Central Command (Centcom) is evaluating whether the crash was intentional.
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Iran has not acknowledged shooting down the helicopter, although Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said “foreign forces close to our territory are at constant risk due to human error, accidents or potentially being hit by crossfire.”
Among the main problems in the negotiations, Tehran’s demand that Washington unfreeze more than US$10 billion in funds held in foreign countries stands out. It is also unclear whether Iran will agree to destroy its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium or send them to a country like China.
Lebanon, where Israel is at war with Hezbollah, a crucial ally of Iran, is another flashpoint. Iran launched missiles at Israel days ago, after the Jewish state attacked Hezbollah militants and infrastructure in Beirut, the Lebanese capital. Israel retaliated despite Trump’s pleas to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to do so.
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On Monday, Iran and Israel agreed to suspend mutual attacks. Tehran reported that some military personnel were killed in Israeli strikes, while Israel intercepted Iranian missiles.
Iran and the US are trading mainly through Pakistan and countries such as Qatar. Pakistan-led intermediaries are continuing discussions with both sides this week, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.
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