US says downed multiple Iran drones as both insist deal closer

The United States said it downed multiple Iranian drones targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz early Saturday, hours after both sides said a deal to end the Middle East war was closer than ever.

The interception came after weeks of halting talks between Tehran and Washington, mediated by Pakistan, that have been marked by threats and exchanges of fire despite a fragile truce agreed in April.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees operations in the region, posted on X that Iran had "launched multiple one-way attack drones in an attempt to strike commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz."

"U.S. forces have downed all of them in recent hours as traffic flow through the strait continues unimpeded," it said.

CENTCOM added that the Strait of Hormuz -- a key maritime trade route for oil and gas from the Gulf -- "remains open for transit," despite an Iranian-enforced blockade since the start of the war.

Disagreements between the two sides have persisted, with Iranian state media publishing a breakdown of what was purportedly on the table that was at odds with Washington's account.

"The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has never been closer," Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, wrote in a social media post, referring to the Pakistani capital that hosted previous U.S.-Iran talks.

Trump -- who on Friday morning accused the Iranians of negotiating in bad faith and misrepresenting the terms that had been agreed -- posted a screenshot of Araghchi's message on his own feed just hours later.

But state broadcaster IRIB reported Araghchi as saying that until a complete agreement was reached on all issues, "it cannot be said with certainty that an understanding has been achieved with the United States."

Araghchi provided some details on the agreement in an interview with state television, saying it calls for the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade of Iran's ports and unspecified changes to the administration of the Strait of Hormuz.

He also said the only way to deal with the country's enriched uranium -- which Washington alleges is part of a nuclear weapons programme -- "is to dilute it inside Iran."

AFP