{"id":131110,"date":"2026-05-26T03:44:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T03:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/131110\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T03:44:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T03:44:28","slug":"centcom-reports-self-defense-strikes-against-iran-ahead-of-peace-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/131110\/","title":{"rendered":"CENTCOM reports \u2018self-defense\u2019 strikes against Iran ahead of peace talks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mb2-plus4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779767068_317_130526IRANphoto03.jpg\" alt=\"A U.S. military warship is seen from behind and at a distance as it transits open ocean through hazy skies, with the horizon line in the background.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"default-font lh-default ma0 mh3 mt0 pb3\">\n\t\t\t\tA U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer operates in the Strait of Hormuz on April 11, 2026. (Michael Hunnisett\/U.S. Army)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">U.S. Central Command struck missile targets and mine-laying boats in southern Iran late Monday, according to a statement from the command.&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">\u201cU.S. forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces. Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines,\u201d CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement emailed to Stars and Stripes that evening. \u201cU.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.\u201d&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">The statement provided no further details.&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">The New York Times, citing Hawkins, reported the U.S. struck near Bandar Abbas, home of a large Iranian naval base near the Strait of Hormuz.&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">The strikes took place the same day President Donald Trump on Truth Social said peace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stripes.com\/theaters\/middle_east\/2026-05-24\/us-israel-iran-negotiations-hormuz-21769986.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">negotiations between the U.S. and Iran<\/a> are \u201cproceeding nicely,\u201d even as he warned fighting would resume if no deal were reached.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">An Iranian delegation arrived that day in Qatar as part of the talks, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-united-states-deal-explainer-war-b1659232611edc10808612e30647c17d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the Associated Press reported<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">Trump wrote that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other countries in the region should sign on to the Abraham Accords as part of a peace deal with Iran. The accords, reached in 2020 during Trump\u2019s first term and signed by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and Kazakhstan, aimed to normalize their relations with Israel, according to the Middle East Institute\u2019s website.&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">\u201cIt may be possible that one or two have a reason for not doing so, and that will be accepted, but most should be ready, willing, and able to make this Settlement with Iran a far more Historic Event than it would, otherwise, be,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer operates in the Strait of Hormuz on April 11, 2026. (Michael Hunnisett\/U.S. Army)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[141,2656,34,15314,29715,2709,6476,21386,24250,101,343,28395],"class_list":["post-131110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-centcom","tag-central-command","tag-iran","tag-iran-negotiations","tag-iran-peace-deal","tag-iran-strike","tag-negotiations","tag-peace-deal","tag-peace-negotiations","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-us-military","tag-us-military-strike"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116638821244052324","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}