Hours after the US struck Iranian naval facilities on land and at sea, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a potential deal to end the conflict could “take a few days”.A series of attacks and counter-attacks threatened an already fragile ceasefire, in place since April 8, and raised fears of a fresh round of violence.On a visit to India, Rubio told reporters in Jaipur that there were “some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress… it’ll take a few days”.“The President has expressed his desire to make it. He’s either going to make a good deal or no deal,” he said. Rubio told reporters that “the straits have to be open”.“They’re going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open. What’s happening there is unlawful, it’s illegal, it’s unsustainable for the world, it’s unacceptable.”The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Iran would leave no act of aggression unanswered and would show not the slightest hesitation in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity.Iran condemned the attack, saying it constituted a clear violation of Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations, as well as the ceasefire agreement dated April 8, 2026. “The American regime is fully responsible for all consequences arising from these aggressive acts.”Earlier, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines on Monday.“The US forces conducted self-defence strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesman, said in a statement.It gave no details of the attacks and only said the targets included missile launch sites and boats trying to “emplace mines”.Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that it shot down an MQ-9 Reaper drone after identifying “hostile aircraft” entering Iranian airspace.The IRGC forces “also fired upon an RQ-4 drone and an intruding F-35 jet”, an IRGC statement said, without specifying the time of the incidents.Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported that several loud explosions were heard in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas around midnight local time.The strikes came around the time top Iranian negotiators gathered in Qatar’s capital for the latest round of talks to end the nearly three-month-long conflict, which has sent global energy prices spiralling after Iran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for oil and gas.Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier that nuclear issues would only be negotiated after a framework accord had been agreed upon.Trump has said his key aim in the war is to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has consistently denied it has plans to develop nuclear weapons.Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, in a written statement carried by state television on Tuesday, said regional countries would no longer be shields for US bases.“What is certain in this regard is that the hands of time will not turn backwards, and the nations and land of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases,” said Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since taking office in March, in a message marking the Eid al-Adha holiday.