Iran and US agree plan for 60-day ceasefire extension after latest attacks

WASHINGTON/DUBAI: The United States and Iran reached an agreement on Thursday to extend their ceasefire pending ​the approval of President Donald Trump, after Iran had targeted a U.S. air base in Kuwait following U.S. strikes on what Washington called an Iranian ‌drone operation.

According to four sources familiar with the matter, the two sides agreed a memorandum-of-understanding to extend the truce for 60 days but the plan still needed Trump’s signoff.

The agreement will state how to address Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which will be among the first issues discussed during the 60-day window, according to an earlier report by Axios, which broke the news.

The White House declined to comment.

The ​reports prompted oil prices to reverse course and trade lower on hopes of a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit route for roughly a ​fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply.

READ MORE: Trump says US not satisfied yet on deal with Iran

Trump has repeatedly said the end of the war is close but told media ⁠at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday he was not yet satisfied by the negotiations and that the U.S. was not discussing easing sanctions, one of Tehran’s demands.

U.S. and Iran​ Trade blows

The latest attacks, while limited, highlighted the fragility of negotiations to turn the tenuous early-April ceasefire into a lasting agreement to end the three-month-old war - which has killed thousands - and reopen ​the vital Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces had shot down five Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station in the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a sixth. Kuwaiti forces had then intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the country, which hosts a large U.S. base.

“These actions were measured, purely defensive and intended to maintain the ceasefire,” a U.S. official, ​who requested anonymity to speak candidly about military operations, told Reuters earlier.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted the U.S. base responsible for an early-morning attack near ​Bandar Abbas airport and that any repeat would lead to a “more decisive response”, Tasnim news agency reported.

Kuwait condemned the attack and demanded that Iran immediately halt what it called a serious escalation.

The violence, ‌the second flare-up this ⁠week, coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha celebrated across the region, where multiple countries have been caught up in the conflict triggered by U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.

Mediator Pakistan said its foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, would meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Friday, although the significance of his visit was unclear.

In Lebanon, which Iran says must be part of any overall peace deal, Israel said it had begun striking infrastructure of Iran-backed Hezbollah in the southern city of Tyre and ​had carried out a strike in the capital ​Beirut.

The Lebanese army said a strike had ⁠killed one of its soldiers, while Israel, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people with a push deep into Lebanon in pursuit of Hezbollah, said air raid sirens had gone off in its north.

Warning to Oman

The U.S. warned Oman on Thursday not to get ​involved in any effort to impose a toll in the Strait of Hormuz, saying it will penalize any partners involved in ​such a system.

“Oman, in particular, ⁠should know that the U.S. Treasury will aggressively target any actors involved - directly or indirectly - in facilitating tolls for the Strait and any willing partners will be penalized,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X.

Trump said that no single country would have control over the waterway, and appeared to threaten Oman, with which the U.S. has decades-long military and economic ties.

“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,” ​he said on Wednesday.

Oman has not mentioned the idea of joint control of the strait with Iran, with which it says it has discussed freedom of navigation. Tehran expressed solidarity with Oman after what it called “U.S. officials’ ​threats”.