The guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney observes a merchant vessel while on patrol in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran on Monday suspended indirect communications with the United States and said the strategic waterway would remain closed until its demands regarding Israeli military operations in Lebanon and Gaza are met. (U.S. Central Command)
Iranian negotiators have stopped exchanging messages with the U.S. in protest of Israeli military operations in Lebanon, Iranian state media reported Monday, potentially derailing talks aimed at ending a more than three-month-long war.
Israel this week expanded its war in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, pushing further into the country than it has in 26 years.
Although a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect six weeks ago, clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah have continued.
President Donald Trump announced Monday in a post on Truth Social that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to dial back fighting after he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and communicated with the Lebanon-militant group through mediators.
The president said that Hezbollah had “agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”
Trump’s comments came hours after Netanyahu said that he ordered additional strikes on the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh, a southern Beirut suburb, prompting panic among many residents, the BBC reported.
Iranian state-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that Iran’s negotiating team would suspend all “discussions and exchanges of texts through intermediaries” with the United States.
According to Tasnim, Iran is demanding an immediate halt to Israel’s military actions in Lebanon and Gaza. Until those demands are met, there will be no dialogue with Washington and the Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed, the report said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi had said earlier Monday that hostilities in Lebanon constituted a clear violation of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement.
“The United States and Israel bear responsibility for the consequences of any breach of the truce,” he wrote on X.
The abrupt halt to the negotiations comes after weeks of talks and intermittent fighting between Iranian and American forces.
U.S. Central Command said late Sunday that it had struck radar and command-and-control sites for drones in Goruk and on Qeshm Island, two Iranian locations along the commercially critical Strait of Hormuz.
The strikes, which CENTCOM characterized as self-defense, were carried out by unspecified fighter aircraft in response to “aggressive Iranian actions,” including the shootdown of an MQ-1 Predator drone operating over international waters.
A U.S. sailor watches the launch of a Tomahawk missile from a destroyer in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility on March 3, 2026. Despite ongoing ceasefire negotiations, Iran and the U.S. launched strikes at each other’s military infrastructure over the weekend, according to CENTCOM and Iranian state media. (U.S. Central Command)
Iranian state media said Monday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had attacked the U.S. air base from where the strikes originated, though it was not clear which base was targeted.
In a follow-up post on X, CENTCOM said the U.S. intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces in Kuwait, noting that the missiles were “immediately defeated and no American personnel were harmed.”
Kuwait, which is home to several U.S. installations, reported Monday that it was fending off a wave of Iranian drone and missile fire. Residents were encouraged to seek shelter.
An earlier strike on Kuwait injured several Americans and damaged at least two MQ-9 Reaper drones at Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base, a major hub for U.S. air operations in the Persian Gulf, Bloomberg reported Friday. CENTCOM has not confirmed that attack.
Headlines have suggested for weeks that the U.S. and Iran are making progress on a peace deal, though disagreements remain on key issues, including control of the strait and continuation of Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran has repeatedly attacked commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, severely restricting traffic in a waterway that usually carries one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies.
The U.S. briefly launched an effort last month called Project Freedom to support commercial ships moving through the strait, but it was halted after just one day.
In recent weeks, the U.S. military has been quietly guiding ships through the strait, The New York Times reported over the weekend.
While the U.S. isn’t directly escorting ships, a CENTCOM official told the paper that the command continues to communicate and coordinate with commercial ships seeking to transit the strait.
Trump indicated late last week that he was prepared to approve an interim peace agreement with Iran but has since reportedly toughened the terms of the proposal.
In a Truth Social post late Sunday, Trump said Iran “really wants to make a deal,” but he criticized “political hacks” who keep “negatively ‘chirping’” about the peace process.
“Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end - It always does!” Trump added.
A return to full-scale hostilities could bring further harm to U.S. installations and personnel in the Middle East.
Iran fired thousands of drones and missiles across the region at the start of the war, damaging military sites across seven countries.
Thirteen American service members have been killed in the war, including six airmen who died in a crash in Iraq and six soldiers who were killed in a drone strike on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait. Another soldier died from injuries sustained in an attack on U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia.
As of Friday, a total of 409 service members had been wounded in action throughout the operation, known as Epic Fury, according to Pentagon figures.
The conflict has also raised concerns about the U.S. stockpile of missile defense munitions, which have been heavily used to combat swarms of Iranian drones and missiles across the region.
A recent analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies determined that the U.S. has enough munitions for any plausible scenario in the Iran war, but it said the depleted inventory could create vulnerability in a conflict in the Pacific.
It will take three or more years to return the number of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems, Patriot air and missile defense batteries and land attack missiles to prewar levels, CSIS said. Naval missiles, such as the SM-3 and SM-6, were not used as heavily and will take around two years to replenish, according to the report.
