THE United States military has carried out what it described as “self-defence” strikes in southern Iran, targeting missile launch sites and vessels allegedly involved in laying naval mines, despite claims from President Donald Trump that negotiations with Tehran were progressing positively.
The operations were conducted “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces”, according to a statement from US Central Command spokesman Capt Tim Hawkins, who added that the military was “using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire”.
AP reported on Tuesday that new operational details were immediately released, and Washington has yet to clarify the precise nature of the alleged Iranian threats or how the strikes may affect the fragile diplomatic process now under way.
The military action came as Trump unveiled a new and potentially contentious condition for any long-term agreement with Iran, insisting that several Muslim-majority nations should simultaneously join the Abraham Accords as part of a broader regional settlement involving Israel.
In remarks posted on social media, Trump said negotiations were “proceeding nicely” and argued that countries including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan should “immediately” sign on to the accords.
“After all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote.
The proposal threatens to complicate an already delicate negotiation process, particularly as several countries named by Trump continue to link any normalisation with Israel to the establishment of a recognised Palestinian state.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly maintained that formal ties with Israel cannot proceed without clear progress towards Palestinian statehood, while Pakistan also does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.
Islamabad-based analyst Syed Mohammad Ali said Pakistan’s position remained unchanged despite Trump’s remarks, signalling likely resistance to any attempt to attach diplomatic recognition of Israel to the Iran talks.
Masood Khan, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Washington, described Trump’s intervention as a significant shift in the diplomatic framework surrounding the negotiations.
“The invocation of the Abraham Accords at this stage gives an altogether new dimension to the diplomatic and mediatory processes because this issue was not on the agenda,” he said.
Khan nevertheless suggested that negotiations remained active and that Pakistan continued to play a central mediating role alongside other regional powers.
Trump also indicated that even Iran itself could eventually become part of the Abraham Accords if a broader agreement is reached.
The accords were initially brokered during Trump’s first term and began with the normalisation of relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020. They were later expanded to include Sudan, Morocco and Kazakhstan as part of Washington’s effort to reshape diplomatic and security alignments across the Middle East and North Africa. - May 26, 2026
