Iran and U.S. exchange fire again as Trump seeks “a good deal or no deal” at all

China on Tuesday urged “parties concerned” to respect a fragile ceasefire in the Iran war, after the U.S. military said it had conducted overnight “self-defense strikes” against missile sites in southern Iran, as well as boats purportedly trying to lay sea mines.

“We urge the parties concerned to fulfil their ceasefire commitments, resolve disputes through peaceful means… and promote the early restoration of peace,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news briefing when asked for China’s reaction.

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A Telegram channel affiliated with Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) identified four navy personnel it says were killed in overnight U.S. airstrikes in southern Iran. 

It named the four men as Abbas Eslami, Ghodrat Zarangari, Abdolreza Golzari, and Hossein Sotoudeh. Sotoudeh had been “due to hold his wedding ceremony in the coming days,” according to the channel, which posted a photograph of him.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said early Tuesday that American forces had carried out “self-defense strikes … to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”

CENTCOM said the U.S. strikes had hit targets including “Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines.”

Iran’s semi-official SNN news agency reported that the “American–Zionist enemy” carried out an attack on vessels south of the country’s Larak Island, in the Strait of Hormuz.

“According to local sources, last night American–Zionist fighter jets targeted several Iranian vessels south of Larak Island,” SNN reported, adding that “several of our compatriots have been martyred in these attacks.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday that it had downed a U.S. drone and shot at other aircraft entering the country’s airspace.

US military aircraft “entered Iranian airspace in the Persian Gulf region, and air defense units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps … identified and shot down an MQ-9 drone,” the Guard said in a statement on its Sepah News website.

The Guards forces “also fired upon an RQ-4 drone and an intruding F-35 fighter jet,” the statement said, without specifying when the incidents took place. 

The U.S. has lost at least 16 MQ-9 Reaper drones over Iran since the war began, and three U.S. F-15 fighter jets were shot down over Kuwait in a “friendly fire incident” early in the conflict, but there were no casualties. Depending on the variant, MQ-9 drones can carry a price tag of more than $30 million for the U.S. taxpayer.  

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Iran Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Tuesday that “Death to America” and Israel would become “common slogans” worldwide and that countries in the region would no longer be “shields” for U.S. bases, in a written statement commemorating Hajj carried by state television.

“What is certain in this regard is that the hands of time will not turn backwards, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases,” said Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since he took office in March, in a message marking the Eid al-Adha holiday.

He said the United States was losing influence in the region, “moving further and further away from its former status with each passing day.”

“In different parts of Iran and the world, and after these blessed days, ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ shall become the common slogan of the Islamic Ummah and the oppressed people of the world,” he added, “especially the youth.”

The remarks come as Iran and the United States continued exchanges aimed at reaching a deal to end the war that began on February 28 and spread across the region

U.S. intelligence shows that Khamenei is effectively holed up in an undisclosed location with little access to the outside world and is only reached by a labyrinth of couriers, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

He was injured in initial U.S. and Israeli strikes in the Mideast war, U.S. intelligence has said.

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An Israeli airstrike on a village in eastern Lebanon killed 12 people, the country’s state-run National News Agency said Tuesday.

The strike late Monday in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley area came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had authorized more intense strikes targeting the Hezbollah militant group across Lebanon. The Israeli military didn’t comment on this particular strike but said Monday that it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in eastern Lebanon.

Rescue workers say a dozen bodies were pulled out of rubble following an intense wave of overnight strikes targeting swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon.

The intensified attacks come three days before Lebanese and Israeli military delegations are set to meet in Washington for direct talks.

Hezbollah is attacking Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israeli towns and has vowed to continue fighting until Israel stops its daily airstrikes and withdraws its troops from the country.

The Lebanese government hopes that the direct talks with Israel, opposed by Hezbollah, will lead to a ceasefire.

Over one million people in Lebanon have been displaced in the war, which was sparked by Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted Tuesday that the blockaded Strait of Hormuz will reopen “one way or the other,” after fresh U.S. strikes on Iran cast doubt on an accord to end the Mideast war.

“The straits have to be open. They’re going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open,” Rubio told reporters in the city of Jaipur, during an official visit to India.

“What’s happening there is unlawful, it’s illegal, it’s unsustainable for the world, it’s unacceptable,” he said. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said early Tuesday that a deal with Iran was still possible despite new American strikes that cast doubt on their fragile ceasefire.

“There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress. I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it’ll take a few days,” Rubio told reporters in Jaipur during an official visit to India.

“The president’s expressed his desire to make it. He’s either going to make a good deal or no deal,” he said.

U.S. forces on Monday launched “self-defense strikes” in southern Iran, U.S. Central Command said.

“U.S. forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement. “Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines. U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”

The strikes follow Hezbollah saying it staged several attacks on Monday on three barracks and a military post in northern Israel “in response to the violation of the ceasefire” by the Jewish state.

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President Trump said in a Truth Social post Monday that he wants the International Atomic Energy Agency to be present if Iran disposes of its highly-enriched uranium inside the country or “at another acceptable location.”

“The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event,” the president said in a post. 

A senior Trump administration official said over the weekend that Iran agreed in principle to dispose of highly-enriched uranium in negotiations with the U.S. and that officials were still working through details of the mechanism for the disposal. 

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf are in Doha, Qatar for peace talks, a diplomat briefed on the visit and a source familiar with the matter told CBS News. 

Their visit comes as CBS News previously reported the details of a draft memorandum for Iran to review.