Iran accused the United States of violating a ceasefire by targeting two ships at the Strait of Hormuz and attacking civilian areas, the country’s top joint military command said late on Thursday.
The US targeted “an Iranian oil tanker traveling from Iran’s coastal waters near Jask toward the Strait of Hormuz, as well as another vessel entering the Strait of Hormuz near the Emirati port of Fujairah,” a spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said in a statement carried by state media.
“At the same time, with the co-operation of some regional countries, they carried out air attacks on civilian areas along the coasts of Bandar Khamir, Sirik, and Qeshm Island.”
The US military said it carried out retaliatory strikes on Iran on Thursday, targeting sites it said were responsible for attacking US forces in what it called unprovoked hostilities by Tehran.
“U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes,” the military said in a statement.
It added Iran had launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats as three US navy destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz. No US military assets were hit by the Iranians, the US military said.
US president Donald Trump told ABC News that the ceasefire with Iran remained in place despite new strikes, according to an ABC reporter on X, adding that the strikes are just a “love tap”.
Iranian state media, citing an unnamed military official, said US military naval units operating in the area of the strait came under Iranian missile fire following an attack by the US military on an Iranian oil tanker.
US military vessels were forced to retreat after sustaining damage from Iranian missile strikes, it added. It was unclear when the incident happened.
Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim reported that three US destroyers near the strait were targeted in an attack by the Iranian navy. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US military said that US forces hit the tanker’s rudder with an F-18 fighter jet.
This is not the first time the two sides have exchanged fire since the ceasefire started.
On Monday, the US military said it destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones as Tehran sought to thwart a US naval effort to open shipping through the strait.
Earlier on Thursday, both countries were edging toward a temporary agreement to halt their war, sources and officials said, with Tehran reviewing a proposal that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues unresolved.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Tehran had not yet reached a conclusion on the emerging plan, which according to the sources centres on a short-term memorandum rather than a comprehensive peace deal, underscoring deep divisions between the two sides.
Hopes that even a partial deal could lead to the reopening of the strait moved markets, with oil prices falling again.
Tehran and Washington have scaled back ambitions for a sweeping settlement as differences persist, particularly over Iran’s nuclear programme – including the fate of its highly enriched uranium stockpiles and how long Tehran would halt nuclear work.
Instead, they are working toward a temporary arrangement set out in a one-page memo aimed at preventing a return to conflict and stabilising shipping through the strait, the sources and officials said.
“Our priority is that they announce a permanent end to war and the rest of the issues could be thrashed out once they get back to direct talks,” a senior Pakistani official involved in mediation between the two sides told Reuters.
Iran war: What a deal could look like and why Trump blinked first
The proposed framework would unfold in three stages: formally ending the war, resolving the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and initiating a 30-day window for negotiations on a broader agreement, according to the sources and officials.
Tehran said its foreign minister Abbas Araghchi held a telephone call on Thursday with Ishaq Dar, his counterpart in Pakistan, which has taken a leading role in mediation efforts.
“We remain optimistic,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told a briefing in Islamabad when asked how quickly a deal could come.
“A simple answer would be that we expect an agreement sooner rather than later.”
Donald Trump – who has repeatedly played up the prospect of a breakthrough since the war began on February 28th with US-Israeli strikes on Iran – has also struck an optimistic tone.
“They want to make a deal … it’s very possible,” he told reporters at the White House on Wednesday, adding later that “it’ll be over quickly”.
The proposal would formally end the conflict in which full-scale warfare was paused by a ceasefire announced on April 7th. But it leaves unresolved key US demands that Iran suspend its nuclear work and reopen the strait, the sources said.
In a sign of the US keeping up pressure, it imposed sanctions on Thursday on Iraq’s deputy oil minister and three militia leaders over what it said was their support for Iran.
A view of destroyed buildings is pictured at the site of an Israeli air strike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Habbouch on Thursday. Photograph: Abbas Fakih/AFP via Getty
Israel, which has also been fighting Iran-backed Hizbullah in Lebanon, said on Thursday it had killed a Hizbullah commander in an air strike on Beirut a day earlier, the first Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital since a ceasefire there was agreed last month.
Hizbullah triggered its latest conflict with Israel by opening fire in support of Iran on March 2nd. A halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon is another key Iranian demand in negotiations with Washington.
Israel and Lebanon will hold talks in Washington on May 14th and 15th, a US state department official said on Thursday.
The state department official did not say who would participate in the meeting. US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that peace was achievable but required Lebanon’s government to have the capability to fight Hizbullah.
Iranian officials signalled scepticism over the US proposal to end the wider war. A foreign ministry spokesperson said Tehran would respond in due course, while Iranian politician Ebrahim Rezaei described the proposal as “more of an American wish list than a reality”.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf appeared to mock reports that indicated the two sides were close, writing on social media that “Operation Trust Me Bro failed” and portraying the talks as US spin after its failure to reopen the strait.
Trump on Tuesday paused a two-day-old naval mission aimed at reopening the blockaded strait, citing progress in talks.
NBC News, citing two unnamed US officials, said Trump decided on the pause after Saudi Arabia suspended the US military’s ability to use a Saudi base for the operation.
Saudi officials were surprised and angered by Trump’s announcement that the US would help escort ships through the Strait, leading them to tell Washington they would deny the US permission to fly military aircraft out of a Saudi base or through Saudi airspace, NBC reported.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. The US military has kept up its own blockade on Iranian ships. – Reuters