The United States military launched fresh strikes in Southern Iran on Monday targeting several missile launch sites and Iranian vessels allegedly attempting to deploy naval mines.

The attacks, which came six weeks into an ongoing ceasefire and days before Eid, struck missile facilities and boats in southern Iran, including areas near the port city of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan Province.

According to the U.S. Central Command, the attacks targeted missile launch facilities and Iranian boats allegedly attempting to deploy naval mines around the Strait of Hormuz.

It added that the strikes were deployed to protect American troops.

“U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” the command’s spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement while declining to reveal the exact locations of the strikes or the U.S. warships involved.

A senior U.S. military official disclosed that Iranian defence systems were reportedly locking onto U.S. planes and ships operating near the Gulf of Oman and in the Arabian Sea axis, putting forces at risk.

The official confirmed attacks near Bandar Abbas, a port city and one of Iran’s major naval bases to weaken threats from Iranian forces.

The latest confrontation from the U.S. forces came as Iranian negotiators arrived in Qatar for discussions aimed at ending the conflict permanently and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Despite repeated claims by President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that Iran’s military capacity had been severely weakened during the 38-day American-Israeli campaign, U.S. intelligence assessments reportedly showed that Iran had regained access to most of its missile facilities and underground launch sites.

The reports also revealed that Iran still retains nearly 70 per cent of its missile launchers and stockpile, alongside hundreds of small revolutionary guards speedboats capable of placing mines across the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, senior U.S. military officials have raised concerns over decreasing American long-range missile reserves, with reports stating that the Pentagon resorted to lighter ammunition designed to seal underground missile facilities rather than fully destroy them.

Before President Donald Trump recently announced that Washington and Tehran were close to reaching a possible agreement, U.S. military planners had reportedly been preparing for another major bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz weaken Iran’s control of the strategic waterway.