Iran condemns new wave of US strikes as peace talks hang in balance

Iran has slammed a new wave of US strikes in the besieged nation’s south. Meanwhile Donald Trump has demanded various countries normalise relations with Israel as a condition of ending his failed war. Yet several expert voices have said that the US has already lost the war, with Trump in no position to make demands.

Middle East Eye reported:

Iran’s foreign ministry accused the US of violating ceasefire agreement after Washington carried out strikes south of the country.

The ministry said:

Undoubtedly, the Islamic Republic of Iran will not leave any act of mischief unanswered and will not hesitate in defending the country’s integrity.

Drop Site News reported that Iranian sailors and fishermen were killed:

💢 NEW: Iranian sailors and fishermen were killed today after U.S. forces struck vessels near Bandar Abbas, according to reports and images circulating on social media.

IRGC-linked Fars News reported explosions in Bandar Abbas and similar sounds near Sirik and Jask a few hours… https://t.co/gUl45sMQrh pic.twitter.com/b8yMO4IDEF

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) May 26, 2026

US-Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering unprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.

The US has achieved none of its original war aims. Iran predictably closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil channel, once attacked – creating a global energy crisis. Far from being defeated, Iran has said the war will continue until “the enemy’s inevitable and permanent humiliation, disgrace, regret, and surrender”. Trump came to power on an anti-war ‘America First’ ticket. He now faces worldwide humiliation.

It is widely felt that Trump is groping for an off-ramp from his own war. Drop Site‘s Murtaza Hussein posted on X:

If Trump continues the war he will have to deal with an escalating global economic crisis with no clear victory or exit strategy. If he ends it however he will have to deal with backlash from the ruthless Israel Lobby that will continue inflicting political harm on him for the…

— Murtaza Hussain (@MazMHussain) May 26, 2026

Iran holds the cards amid Trump’s desperation

Meanwhile, Middle East Eye editor David Hearst wrote that Iran “holds all the cards”:

however tortuous the path, and even if this deal fails and Trump decides to attack Iran for a third time, it is brutally clear that the US has just lost another war in the Middle East – its sixth in 25 years.

Iran has all the cards, chiefly the Strait of Hormuz, but also the deterrence its drones and missiles have achieved over its Gulf neighbours – and other cards still it has yet to play, like the closure of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea. Trump has none.

Yet Trump has continued to make improbable demands more suited to a man who is winning. For example, he has insisted that a number of Middle East states sign the Abraham Accords. The Accords bind signatories into normalising relations with Israel.

Trump said:

After all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords.

Those Countries discussed are Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates (already a Member!), Qatar, Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain (already a Member!).

Pakistan, which is acting as peace broker between the US and Iran, has rejected the idea entirely. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said, referring to Israel:

How will you sit down with those people whose word cannot be trusted.

We have a very clear stance that this is not acceptable to us.

Trump seems to be oscillating between desperation and brazen posturing. The self-proclaimed ‘master of the deal’ seems to be completely incapable of finding such a thing. That is one thing on a reality TV boardroom. It is quite another when it is the lives of Iranian civilians are reduced to bargaining chips in Trump’s failed imperial adventure.

Featured image via Getty/Andrew Harnik