World
US strikes Iranian radar sites after drone shootdown in Strait of Hormuz
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US forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites on Saturday after shooting down drones launched by Iran towards the Strait of Hormuz, the US military said, in the latest escalation complicating efforts to end the war between the two countries.
The US military believed the four Iranian drones were targeting regional maritime traffic, an official said.
US Central Command said on social media that the US then struck Iran’s surveillance sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island, which are both on the Strait of Hormuz.
“The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,” it said. It hit the radar sites, including an island in the strait, “to defend against further attacks”.
The US and Iran have been engaged in largely indirect negotiations to secure an interim deal to halt the three-month-old war that would leave issues including Iran’s nuclear programme to further negotiations.
As part of any agreement, Tehran wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, the lifting of a US blockade on its ports and leverage over the strait. Iran has effectively blocked the strait, where about a fifth of the world’s oil transited before the war.
