As peace talks continue, the US, on Monday (May 25, 2026), launched fresh airstrikes on Iran, targeting boats attempting to lay mines in the Gulf region and missile launch sites, calling the attacks defensive actions.
On the other side, Israel hit Hezbollah locations in a bid to crush the Iranian-backed militant group inside Lebanon, even as the ceasefire in the war that began on February 28 was in place, as discussions to extend it by another 60 days continue.
The US Central Command announced in a statement that it carried out the airstrikes designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”
“US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesperson.
Iran claimed it downed a “hostile” stealth drone using a new air defence system, without saying where it had come from. “This is a sign from us that no more stealth drones can penetrate the skies of the Persian Gulf,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying.
The US airstrikes came as Iran’s top negotiator and foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar’s prime minister on a potential deal with the US to end the three-month-old war.
However, both the US and Iran downplayed the hopes of a negotiated settlement or a breakthrough in the peace talks.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in New Delhi earlier that the US would give diplomacy every chance to succeed before considering how to deal with Iran in “another way.”
There was a “pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the strait (of Hormuz), get the strait open, enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter, and hopefully we can pull it off,” Rubio said.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump said talks with Iran were going “nicely”, but warned of fresh attacks if they failed. It “will only be a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation would intensify strikes against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel’s military soon thereafter said it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley and other areas.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire in mid-April, but Israel has continued airstrikes it says are acts of self-defence against Hezbollah, which was not party to the truce.
In a video message to the Israeli forces, Netanyahu ordered the military to intensify strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon to “crush” the armed group.
“We are at war with Hezbollah, and we will intensify our strikes,” he declared, in line with calls from far-right coalition partners for an escalation of military action.
The order comes despite the “ceasefire” agreed upon with Lebanon last month, which was recently extended. Netanyahu said Israel’s military would not be taking its foot off the gas. “On the contrary, I said to step on the gas even more,” he said.
Shortly after his comments, the Israeli military announced it had launched attacks on Hezbollah infrastructure in the Bekaa Valley and several other areas in Lebanon.
In Doha, an official said the discussions focused on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, while Tehran’s central bank governor attended to discuss the potential release of frozen Iranian funds as part of a final deal.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier that nuclear issues would only be negotiated after the framework accord was agreed. Baghaei said the potential Iran deal contained no specific details on the management of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran will not charge tolls for ships to pass through, but there will be a cost for services offered, such as navigation and steps to protect the environment, he said, under a protocol to be agreed with Oman, which lies on the opposite shore of the waterway.
In his Truth Social post, Trump said his key aim in the war was to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has consistently denied it has plans to do that.
Trump also called on more Arab and Muslim states to sign up to the Abraham Accords, brokered during his first term in office and aimed at normalising ties between those states and Israel.
He said Saudi Arabia and Qatar should immediately sign, and Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey should follow suit, calling his request mandatory.
A Pakistani official, though, said Trump’s statement was an attempt to use the Iran diplomacy for a wider push around the accords, but that the two issues were “not interlinked and cannot be made so.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir went to Beijing along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to consult China on the West Asian conflict, soon after he returned from Tehran along with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi after discussing the peace agenda with the Iranians.
China has said it would work with Pakistan to “make positive contributions to the early restoration of peace and stability in the Middle East.” Sharif had begun his four-day official visit to China in Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang on Saturday (May 23).
Speaking to Chinese leaders in Beijing, alongside Munir, Sharif said the world was passing through a critical moment. “Pakistan has played a sincere role in mediating between the US and Iran. The Army chief was in Tehran and did not want to miss this great visit,” he said.
“Things are moving in the right direction. I would like to thank China’s support in promoting peace,” he added. Pakistan had hosted the US and Iranian delegations for the peace talks in mid-April, but it did not yield any positive outcome.