International Desk, Bangladesh Global: The United States carried out new strikes on southern Iran on Thursday, after President Donald Trump threatened to "finish the job" if Tehran did not agree to a peace deal.
Iranian media reported three loud explosions rang out in the port city of Bandar Abbas in the early hours of Thursday morning, following US strikes earlier in the week that underscored the fragile state of a diplomatic push to get a provisional peace agreement across the finish line.
"Today, US Central Command Forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz," a US official said in a statement to AFP. "US forces also struck an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone," the official said.
Even after earlier strikes on Monday night, Iran said on Wednesday a return to war was unlikely but that its military was nonetheless "lying in wait".
A key focus of the deal has also been restoring full traffic to the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has effectively closed, leaving global energy markets grappling with curbed supplies of the huge amounts of oil and gas that normally pass through it.
On another front of the war, in Lebanon, Israel issued fresh evacuation orders to residents of the southern city of Tyre, warning it would take action against Iran-backed Hezbollah after declaring all areas south of the Zahrani River, which lies roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border, as "combat zones". Trump separately also appeared to direct a warning to Oman, a US ally and mediator in the conflict, when asked about a possible short-term arrangement allowing Iran and Oman to control the Strait of Hormuz.
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