Iran says southern city Sirik hit by "the enemy" near Strait of Hormuz

IRNA reported Thursday that Sirik, a city in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, came under attack. The state outlet blamed the strike on what it called the enemy, and offered no further detail on who was behind it or what was hit. Sirik overlooks the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint at the center of the standoff between Washington and Tehran.

Iran's National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei has already drawn a hard line on any fresh strike. He warned that his country would hit bases from West Asia to Europe if the United States attacked again, calling every base used to threaten Iran a legitimate target for lethal strikes. In a post on X, he wrote: NO SAFE DISTANCE. NO SAFE HAVEN. NO IMMUNITY.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he no longer needs a deal with Iran. Writing on Truth Social, Trump said those days have long since passed, adding that the US has got their money, hundreds of billions of dollars, and their Strait. In the same post he said he told Vice President JD Vance to turn his attention to what he called massive corruption in Democrat-run American cities, describing them as poorly run, corrupt disasters.

Vance had been weighing a diplomatic path. The Wall Street Journal reported that he was considering direct talks with Rezaei to end the war in the Middle East, citing unnamed officials and people familiar with diplomatic contacts. Those sources said Trump was open to the push and had authorized Vance to negotiate, though the deliberations were still preliminary. Rezaei had recently denied media reports that he planned to meet Vance.

On the water, US Central Command said its forces are working around the clock to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to commercial shipping. CENTCOM added that it is strictly enforcing what it called the ironclad naval blockade against Iran, while working with US interagency partners to stop the IRGC from moving advanced weapons, dual-use tech, sanctioned materials and illegal revenue through land routes and the Caspian Sea.