The United States military carried out new strikes against an Iranian drone operation in the port city of Bandar Abbas on Wednesday, just hours after President Donald Trump publicly dismissed reports of a framework deal to restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a development that underscored how far apart Washington and Tehran remain despite months of ceasefire diplomacy.
Four Drones Down, One Launch Site Destroyed
A U.S. official, speaking anonymously to discuss active military operations, confirmed that American forces shot down four Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was moments away from launching a fifth. The ground control station was targeted because a fifth drone was about to launch from there, and the official stressed the attacks were limited and do not represent a resumption of major combat operations against Iran. The IRGC-owned drones, the official noted, did not strike any military or civilian target. “These actions were measured, purely defensive and intended to maintain the ceasefire,” the official said. Iran’s Tasnim news agency offered a different account, citing a military source who said the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Navy had fired warning shots toward a U.S. oil tanker attempting to transit the strait, forcing it to turn back, and that the American strike hit only open ground near Bandar Abbas with no casualties or damage reported.
Not the First Strike Since the Ceasefire
Wednesday’s action was not an isolated incident. The U.S. military also conducted strikes in southern Iran on Monday, which it similarly characterized as defensive but which Iran publicly condemned as a “gross violation” of their ceasefire agreement. The ceasefire in the broader conflict took effect in early April, though restrictions on the strait have remained deeply contested throughout. The pattern of recurring strikes — each framed by Washington as limited and reactive — reflects the fragile and contested nature of the truce that has been in place since April.
Trump Rejects the Deal, Warns Oman
The strikes came on the same day Trump hosted a White House cabinet meeting, where he forcefully rejected an Iranian state television report claiming Tehran and Washington had reached an unofficial draft agreement to restore commercial shipping through the strait within a month, with Iran and Oman jointly managing traffic. Trump stated that no single country would exercise control over what he described as international waters, and in remarks that immediately drew attention, appeared to issue a direct threat to Oman — a U.S. partner with decades-long military and economic ties to Washington. “Nobody’s going to control (the strait),” Trump said at the cabinet meeting. “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that, they’ll be fine.”
Treasury Sanctions Iran’s Strait Authority
Hours after the cabinet meeting, the U.S. Treasury Department escalated the economic pressure campaign, formally adding Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority — the body Tehran established to manage and charge for passage through the waterway — to its Specially Designated Nationals list. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the authority as a new attempt by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to monetize its campaign of state-sponsored terror by extorting vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, describing the entity as spearheading an Iranian-controlled scheme that flagrantly violates international law and U.S. sanctions. The sanctions cover the authority itself and any person or entity cooperating with the agency, which charges tolls that could reach as high as $2 million per vessel. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a pointed statement alongside the designation: “The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash.”
The Iranian Deal That Washington Called a ‘Fabrication’
Iranian state television had reported that the draft agreement would have included the United States lifting its blockade of Iranian ports and withdrawing military forces from Iran’s immediate vicinity, though it acknowledged that the broader question of U.S. troop presence in the region remained unresolved. The White House dismissed the entire report as a “complete fabrication,” and Tehran did not issue a public comment in response. The sanctions announcement came late Wednesday, after the U.S. forces had already carried out strikes on the Iranian military facility earlier in the day.
Iran’s Parliament Pushes Back
Despite the diplomatic maneuvering and military pressure, Iranian officials signaled no intention of backing down from their core demands. Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, addressed Trump’s posture directly in a post on X, arguing the president was caught between two competing impulses. “It is obvious Trump, seeking a way out of this strategic deadlock, alternates between issuing threats and appealing for an agreement,” Azizi wrote. He added that Trump’s “rhetoric” would not force Iran to abandon its demands regarding uranium enrichment, authority over the strait, or the lifting of sanctions.
Rubio’s Red Line on Nuclear Weapons
At the same cabinet meeting where Trump issued his warnings about Oman, Secretary of State Marco Rubio drew a firm line on the nuclear question, which remains the most contentious issue yet to be formally addressed in any negotiating framework. “The bottom line is Iran’s never going to have a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said. Iranian sources have suggested that nuclear talks would be addressed in a second round of negotiations, a sequencing approach that may not be acceptable to Trump’s closest political allies. Iran maintains its nuclear program is intended solely for peaceful purposes.
A Three-Month War, A Crippled Waterway
The conflict that has brought the two countries to this point began on February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes on Iranian military and government targets. In retaliation, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel, U.S. military bases, and U.S.-allied Gulf states, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued warnings forbidding passage through the strait, boarding and attacking merchant ships and laying sea mines in the waterway. The three-month-old war has killed thousands and driven global energy prices sharply higher. Daily crossings through the strait have fallen by 88 percent since those first strikes. On Wednesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Navy reported that only 23 ships had passed through the strait in the prior 24 hours — a fraction of the 125 to 140 vessels that transited daily before the conflict.
Oil Markets React
Global energy markets responded swiftly to news of the renewed strikes. Oil prices, which had fallen more than five percent on Wednesday amid speculation about a possible deal, rebounded sharply once reports of the latest military action emerged. U.S. crude futures gained close to two percent, rising to $90.38 a barrel in early Asian trading on Thursday. The strait, which before the war handled approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas traffic, remains the single most consequential chokepoint in global energy supply.
15,000 Troops and a Naval Blockade
The U.S. military footprint in the region is substantial. Approximately 15,000 American troops are currently enforcing the blockade of Iran, with thousands of additional forces stationed at bases throughout the Gulf region, including in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. The naval blockade of Iranian ports has been in effect since April 13, following the collapse of the Islamabad Talks aimed at ending the war, and the U.S. has reported intercepting dozens of vessels while costing Iran an estimated $500 million daily. U.S. naval vessels, some carrying thousands of sailors and Marines, regularly operate throughout the region and make port calls including in Oman — the same country Trump threatened to target if it did not comply with American demands on the strait.
Sticking Points Remain Deeply Entrenched
Despite repeated statements from Trump in recent days suggesting a deal to end the war was imminent, Wednesday’s sequence of events — new strikes, rejected diplomacy, fresh sanctions and a direct threat to a regional partner — painted a picture of a conflict still far from resolution. The strait itself, the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear capacity, and the lifting of crippling sanctions remain the core sticking points in ongoing negotiations. The Iranian state TV report on the draft agreement made no mention of Iran’s nuclear program, which the United States has demanded be fully disbanded as a condition of any comprehensive settlement. Whether the two sides can bridge those gaps, and how many more strikes will occur in the meantime, remains the defining open question of the war.