US targets Iran’s missile sites, mines laying vessels in new attacks

…Washington’ll no longer have safe haven in M-East —Khamenei
By Nkiruka Nnorom with agency reports

The United States has carried out new attacks on southern Iran, striking missile facilities and vessels that were attempting to lay mines.

The U.S. Central Command (Centcom) released a statement saying the strikes were a defensive measure intended to protect U.S. troops from threats posed by Iranian forces. It also clarified that the actions do not signal the end of the ceasefire with Tehran.

These attacks represent the second major operation during the seven‑week ceasefire, which occurred while Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, led a delegation of negotiators to Qatar.

“US forces conducted self‑defence strikes in southern Iran yesterday to protect troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” Centcom spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said. “US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”

Hawkins added that the strikes targeted an area near Bandar Abbas, a southern port city that hosts an Iranian naval base on the Strait of Hormuz, according to the New York Times. Iranian state media reported that local officials in Bandar Abbas were investigating after explosions were heard.

In a separate statement posted to the official X account of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and read on Iranian state television, it was declared that Middle Eastern countries would no longer serve as shields for American bases amid the U.S.–Israeli conflict with Iran.

“The hand of time does not turn back,” the statement attributed to Khamenei said. “America will no longer have a safe haven for mischief and the establishment of military bases in the region.”

Khamenei has not appeared in public since being elected as the successor to his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Feb. 28 by airstrikes targeting his office in Tehran during the early hours of the U.S.–Israeli campaign.

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