Motorists drive their vehicles past a political billboard featuring U.S. President Donald Trump and the Strait of Hormuz along Valiasr Square in Tehran on May 26, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
AFP

U.S. forces carried out new defensive strikes on Wednesday (May 27, 2026) on an Iran military facility after downing Iranian attack drones, according to U.S. officials.

The strikes came after President Donald Trump asserted on Wednesday that Iran is “negotiating on fumes” and insisted that November’s midterm elections will not make him rush into a deal to end the nearly three-month-old conflict that has spurred unease across the global economy. 

Also read: Iran says war unlikely as Trump warns he may ‘finish the job’

Under the potential deal, Tehran would agree to give up its stockpile of highly-enriched uranium, in return for sanctions relief. 

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Tehran on Tuesday accused Washington of breaching the ceasefire and warned it was ready to retaliate after overnight U.S. strikes, while Israeli bombardment in Lebanon left dozens dead, threatening an increasingly fragile truce there.

The Brent benchmark oil price jumped up by more than three percent after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the new wave of bombings targeting Iranian missile sites and mine-laying boats, while China urged both sides to respect the truce and to resolve their dispute peacefully.

Iranian state media reported overnight blasts in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, near the Strait of Hormuz, and the country’s Revolutionary Guards said its forces had downed a US drone entering its airspace and had fired at an F-35 fighter jet.

-AFP

U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran’s enriched uranium can be turned and destroyed in the U.S., but his preference is for it to be destroyed “in place” or at “another acceptable location,” under the supervision of the IAEA.

Mr. Trump’s comment marks a shift in his repeated statements that Iran hand over its enriched uranium to the US as a sticking point of any potential deal.

“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,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

-PTI

The U.S. military said it carried out “self-defence” strikes in southern Iran, including on missile launch sites and boats placing mines, even as President Donald Trump said on social media that negotiations were “proceeding nicely”.

The strikes were done “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces”, but the military was “using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire”, Capt. Tim Hawkins, U.S. Central Command spokesman, said in a statement on Monday.

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Hezbollah in a statement Sunday of trying to plunge Lebanon “back into chaos.”

Mr. Rubio denounced what he called Hezbollah’s “reckless call to overthrow Lebanon’s democratically elected government” and said the pro-Iran armed group was “actively trying to drag Lebanon back into chaos and destruction.”

Naim Qassem, the leader of Hezbollah, said earlier that “the people have the right to go down onto the streets and to bring down the government” in response to Israeli strikes and US sanctions on the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial institution.

-AFP

Negotiations between Iran and U.S. have stalled as the U.S. imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, while Iran has kept the key Strait of Hormuz largely closed.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, center, shakes hands with Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, left, as Charge d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad Natalie A. Baker, second left, and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, right look on, after arriving for talks with Iranian officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, April 11, 2026. File
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Israeli military on Wednesday killed four Lebanese rescue workers and wounded six others in three consecutive, targeted strikes, paramedic groups said, a stark illustration of the human cost of the Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon a day after it the two countries held historic talks in Washington.

The back-to-back Israeli attacks on the southern village of Mayfadoun, near the bigger town of Nabatiyeh, hit the first group of medics responding to a distress call from wounded civilians, a second group trying to assist their wounded colleagues and a third group rushing to aid the first two teams that had been targeted.

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the strikes beyond saying it was “looking into” what happened. It has previously accused the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group of using ambulances as cover for militant activities, without offering evidence.– AP

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance speaks during a news conference after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran, on April 12, 2026, in Islamabad, Pakistan.
| Photo Credit: Reuters