US strikes drones near Hormuz as Trump warns Iran to make a deal

The United States Treasury announced sanctions Wednesday against Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, Tehran's new agency that collects fees for traveling through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"The Iranian military's latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

The statement extended the threat of sanctions to anyone paying the fees, because they "may be providing support to and receiving services from" Iran's Revolutionary Guards, and therefore may "be exposed to sanctions risk." 

Israel's military issued an evacuation warning for residents of the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon on Thursday, saying it would operate against Iran-backed group Hezbollah in the area.

"The IDF is compelled to take forceful action against it," the Israeli military's order said, in reference to Hezbollah.

It added that residents of the zone around certain buildings should leave and travel north of the Zahrani River, and that remaining in the area "places you at risk".

 The US military shot down four Iranian drones and struck a control center in the southern city of Bandar Abbas, an American official said Wednesday, describing the actions as "purely defensive."

"Today, US Central Command Forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in a statement to AFP.

"US forces also struck an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone," the official said.

The new strikes come just days after the US military attacked several missile sites and mine-laying boats in the same area, in what US officials described at the time as taken in "self-defense."

Those strikes were seen as a significant test of the US-Iran ceasefire, but did not ultimately precipitate in a large-scale return to fighting.

The US official on Wednesday described the latest actions as "measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire."

The Trump administration on Wednesday placed additional sanctions on Iran as part of a sprawling economic pressure campaign during the war, this time targeting the country's newly created agency that is trying to control shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The move, first reported by The Associated Press, is the latest U.S. effort to use economic leverage on top of military action to push Iran's leadership into an agreement to end the war and open the waterway where a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas normally passes. President Donald Trump has said a deal is imminent, but talks are ongoing.

It comes as rising energy prices and other costs stemming from Iran's effective closure of the strait have heaped political pressure on Trump and other Republicans ahead of the midterm congressional elections.

"The Iranian military's latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

The sanctions target Iran's PGSA and any person or entity cooperating with the agency, announced earlier this month, that approves transit in the strait and charges tolls that could reach as high as $2 million per vessel.

Hamas's armed wing confirmed on Wednesday that its chief, Mohammed Odeh, was killed a day earlier in an Israeli strike in Gaza, after Israel had earlier announced his death.

In a statement naming him as the "Chief of Staff of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades", Hamas's armed wing said Odeh died "on Tuesday evening... in a cowardly assassination operation that resulted in the martyrdom of him, his wife and his children".

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was not yet satisfied with Iran's offers to make a deal, after Iranian state television reported details of what it claimed was a draft agreement.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting in the White House, Trump added that he was in no rush to reach an accord despite saying at the weekend that one was close.

"Iran is very much intent, they want very much to make a deal. So far they haven't gotten there. We're not satisfied with it, but we will be," Trump said.

"Either that or we'll have to just finish the job," he said, referring to threats to resume the military operations that the United States and Israel launched on February 28 and paused in April.

Iranian state TV said earlier Wednesday that a draft outline of a memorandum of understanding with Washington included a commitment to lift the naval blockade on Iran, restore traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and withdraw US forces from the Gulf.

The White House called the report a "complete fabrication."

US President Donald Trump said he wouldn’t be content to see Russia or China take shipment of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and insisted there was no discussion of financial relief for the country before it fulfills its commitments, reported CNN.

The remarks offer harder-line positions on two key points that are central to the ongoing negotiations with Iran.

“No I wouldn’t be comfortable,” he said when asked about the prospect of Moscow or Beijing taking the near-bomb-grade uranium, which is currently believed to be buried deep underground.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says: "The bottom line is Iran is never going to have a nuclear weapon. If recent events have done anything, it’s to remind us once again that they are the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism. They can never have a nuclear weapon."

Day 89: Trump says 'not satisfied' yet on Iran deal

Day 88: Iran condemns US attacks as violation of ceasefire

Day 87: 'Proceeding nicely': US-Iran talks intensify, oil drops

Day 86: US-Iran talks: Trump says 'I don’t make bad deals'

Day 85: Trump: Iran deal ‘largely negotiated’, Hormuz to open

Day 84: UAE backs WHO move against Iran's attacks on civilians

Day 83: Trump rejects tolls in Hormuz: 'We want it free'

Day 82: Trump says US-Iran talks are ‘right on the borderline’

Day 81: Iran’s position 'unclear', deal 'uncertain': VP Vance

Day 80: Trump says 'holding off on attack on Iran tomorrow'

Day 79: Trump says 'clock is ticking' for Iran

Day 78: Iran plans new Strait of Hormuz toll system

Day 77: Israel and Lebanon extend ceasefire by 45 days: US

Day 76: World leaders call for security in Strait of Hormuz

Day 75: Trump arrives in Beijing for summit with Xi

Day 74: Iran signals potential 90% Uranium enrichment

Day 73: Trump calls Iranian response 'totally unacceptable'

Day 72: 'As of today, Tehran’s restraint is over': Iran official

Day 71: Iran keeps US waiting on response to peace plan

Day 70: US fires on Iran tankers as talks hang in balance