US and Iran AND CANADA AND…. 1)New Trump Tariffs Raise Fresh Trade Concerns; 2)Forced labour or leverage: What Trump’s new tariffs are really about; 3)Trump’s trade czar says he hopes to give Canada CUSMA ‘options’ by end of year; 4)Trump threatens increased tariffs for wildfire smoke that has ‘unnecessarily invaded’ U.S.; 5)Fact-checking Donald Trump’s national address on U.S. election integrity; 6)U.S. begins new Iran strikes after Trump says ships will be charged to use the Strait of Hormuz
1)New Trump Tariffs Raise Fresh Trade Concerns
A new round of tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump is creating fresh uncertainty for Canadian businesses.
Trade experts say industries such as automotive manufacturing and beverage production could feel the greatest impact if additional tariffs remain in place.
The ongoing discussions surrounding the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement also continue to influence business decisions on both sides of the border.
Experts stress that proper product classification and compliance remain critical for companies involved in international trade.
Although the full impact remains unclear, many businesses continue monitoring negotiations closely while preparing for potential changes.
2)Forced labour or leverage: What Trump’s new tariffs are really about
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By Kelly Geraldine Malone, July 24, 2026.
The Trump administration says it’s hitting Canada and dozens of other countries with double-digit tariffs because they’re not doing enough to fight forced labour — but not everyone is convinced.
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the new duties Thursday, just hours before a different stopgap tariff authority was set to expire.
Many observers say the rushed trade investigations into forced labour show it’s only a pretext allowing U.S. President Donald Trump to rebuild his tariff wall around the United States.
Canada is being lumped in with countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka that are getting hit with 10 per cent duties, while other countries face a 12.5 per cent levy.
Scott Lincicome of the Washington-based Cato Institute said that while forced labour needs to be stamped out, the Trump administration’s justification is a “sham.”
In an analysis published Thursday, Lincicome wrote the findings of the trade investigations were clearly predetermined and the “remedy is both ridiculously blunt and wildly out of proportion.”
The Trump administration launched trade investigations earlier this year through Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 after the U.S. Supreme Court in February struck down the tariff tool Trump used for his “Liberation Day” and fentanyl-related duties.
To temporarily replace his tariffs, Trump used Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 for a 10 per cent global duty. That statute was set to expire Friday — the same time the new 301 tariffs went into effect.
“The Americans need the threat of tariffs to force other countries to accept new American trade demands,” said Carlo Dade, director of international policy and the New North America Initiative at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
Dade said the 301 tariffs are a means to get countries to agree to higher tariffs going forward.
Several of the countries targeted — India, the United Kingdom and Cambodia, to name three — already have agreements on reciprocal trade with the Trump administration. These new tariffs are likely meant to pressure countries to stick to those agreements or — in the case of countries like Canada — sign new ones with the United States.
“Once countries agree, the rationale (of forced labour) is no longer needed,” Dade said in an email.
The Canadian government previously told the Trump administration that new legislation on forced labour in supply chains should shield Canada from the new tariffs.
Canada already had legislation in place to curb forced labour in supply chains which requires annual reports to the federal government. The federal government tabled a bill last month, C-35, to boost enforcement.
C-35 would create a public list of products that have been linked to forced labour in specific regions, based on intelligence from embassies and other authorities. It would require importers to prove that specific products from listed regions were not made through slavery.
While Canada has been accused domestically of not doing enough to enforce its forced labour laws, some observers point out that its efforts are miles ahead of other nations hit with the same U.S. tariffs.
Former Liberal MP John McKay has said the United States accusing Canada of winking at forced labour amounts to “hypocrisy heaped on hypocrisy.”
The United States allows private firms to produce exports made with prison labour. McKay also accused the Trump administration of letting enforcement slide on a Joe Biden-era law called the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act.
Jamie Tronnes of the Center for North American Prosperity and Security, a project of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said the Trump administration is seeking leverage in trade talks with Canada through the forced labour tariff.
The new tariffs do not apply to goods compliant under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico-Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA. Tronnes said the message from Washington is clear: “It shows Canada that if (CUSMA) goes away entirely, that Canada is looking at a best-case scenario of 10 per cent tariffs.”
“While we don’t know what the tariff proposals are behind the scenes, the idea may be to push Canada to accept an American tariff on goods in exchange for a lower than 10 per cent rate,” she said in an email.
Even if Canada meets all the Trump administration’s demands on forced labour in supply chains, experts say it’s unlikely the tariffs will go away entirely.
Like all of Trump’s tariffs, these new duties are likely to be challenged in court — but they could prove to be harder to knock down than the previous ones.
Trump used Section 301 to impose big tariffs on China in his first term, and they survived court challenges.
Canadian businesses won’t see much of an immediate change with the new tariffs, Tronnes said. While the justification for Trump’s tariffs shifted Friday, the tariff level on Canada remained the same.
But the new tariff threats may affect the ongoing review of the continental trade pact.
Trump on Monday ramped up pressure on Canada by threatening to impose 50 per cent tariffs on an array of Canadian goods next month, using Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he spoke with Trump Tuesday and they agreed to intensify trade negotiations.
Tronnes said it’s clear the Trump administration is doubling down on tariffing all of America’s largest trading partners, regardless of trade surpluses or existing free-trade agreements.
“The president has repeatedly demonstrated that he is willing to use tariffs on countries that have already made deals with him, and, with the new 338 tariffs, that he is willing to override even free trade agreements that have been ratified by Congress.”
— With files from Kyle Duggan in Ottawa and The Associated Press
3)Trump’s trade czar says he hopes to give Canada CUSMA ‘options’ by end of year
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By Kelly Geraldine Malone
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Wednesday he hopes to provide “options” by the end of the year to U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada and Mexico on renewing the continental trade pact.
“I would love to have between now and the end the year at least some arrangements — one with Canada, one with Mexico,” Greer told a Senate finance hearing.
“And then some of these issues that are really important — like rules of origin, I know labour environment’s important to a lot of folks here — that take a little more time, to have further discussion of that, including with Congress, in the following year.”
At the start of July, Greer said the United States would not renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA.
That decision triggered annual rolling reviews that could continue for up to a decade, after which the agreement would expire unless all three countries agreed to an extension.
Mexico and Canada had said they wanted a 16-year extension.
Uncertainty about the future of the trade agreement has caused anxiety in business communities in all three countries even as negotiations continue.
Trump has called the agreement “irrelevant” and has said it may have served its purpose. But Greer told the Senate hearing that aspects of the agreement still work.
Greer didn’t offer specifics on what would be in the interim deals he’s looking to pitch to Canada and Mexico by the end of the year.
The United States and Mexico are months into official CUSMA negotiations. Ottawa and Washington have not started similar talks.
CUSMA was negotiated during the first Trump administration to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. The sometimes volatile negotiations were a key test for Ottawa but ultimately an agreement was reached that was praised by all three countries.
The United States has started ramping up pressure on Canada in advance of trade talks. On Monday, Trump threatened to impose 50 per cent tariffs on an array of Canadian goods in 30 days.
The Trump administration said the measure is a response to provincial bans on U.S. liquor, Canada’s supply-managed dairy system and quotas on certain U.S. vehicles.
Greer said he spoke with his Canadian counterpart Tuesday and “they did not say they are going to retaliate.”
Gabriel Brunet, a spokesperson for Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, said in an email that LeBlanc and Greer spoke on Tuesday after Carney and Trump agreed to intensify trade discussions in the coming weeks.
“We look forward to further engagement on addressing outstanding issues with the U.S. to the mutual benefit of our citizens,” said Brunet.
Democrats repeatedly questioned Greer on the move to hit Canada with higher duties.
Sen. Ron Wyden from Oregon said an analysis conducted by his office shows that if the tariffs take effect next month, Canada will face higher duties on certain items than China does. He asked why Canada is being singled out while China gets a “red carpet.”
Greer said he would look into it but he suspects Canada’s tariffs would be higher than China’s on only a small number of items.
Democrat Sen. Peter Welch read out a list of small Vermont businesses that have been hammered by tariffs and cited the drop in Canadian tourism triggered by Trump’s threats of annexation.
“The 51st state, the governor of Canada, that rhetoric has really inhibited Canadians from coming down,” Welch said.
Welch asked Greer for assurance that there’d be a “respectful engagement” during CUSMA negotiations where “we are treating Canadians as the longtime friends in Vermont that they’ve been.”
But Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn praised the Trump administration for putting pressure on Canada over some provinces refusing to stock U.S. alcohol.
“Now that pressure has been applied, what will come next?” Blackburn said, requesting a written response from Greer’s office.
“What do you anticipate to be the next step? How do we get the Canadians to put Jack Daniels back on their shelves rather than allowing them to continue talking this thing and not reaching a resolution
4)Trump threatens increased tariffs for wildfire smoke that has ‘unnecessarily invaded’ U.S.
Stop ‘chirping’ about wildfire smoke and send help like Canada has, Premier Ford tells Republican politicians
Darren Major, Peter Zimonjic · CBC News · Posted: Jul 17, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump is adding his voice to the chorus of Republican politicians who are blaming Canada for wildfire smoke drifting across the border.
Hundreds of active wildfires, most in northwestern Ontario, have triggered air quality warnings for states close to the Great Lakes, stretching from Minnesota to Maryland.
Trump threatened to top up the import tariffs he’s already levied on Canadian goods in response to the smoke that has drifted south of the border.
“We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air,” the president wrote in a social media post on Friday.
“This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars, which cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.”
The president said he intends to call Prime Minister Mark Carney to discuss the “totally unacceptable” situation.
Just hours before Trump’s post, Ontario Premier Doug Ford shot back at previous comments from American politicians who have blamed Canada for the smoke in recent days.
Ford urged the Americans to stop complaining about the wildfire smoke and instead send help — like Canada has done when U.S. states were struck by recent natural disasters.
Wildfires continue to rage across Ontario, forcing more evacuations
More communities are under evacuation orders as wildfires rage across Ontario, with smoke affecting air quality across much of the province. Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province is throwing all resources at the response.
“If there’s some politicians out there chirping away, well maybe what you should do rather than complain is send support, send help, because we have done the exact same thing for our American friends. That’s what you’re supposed to do,” Ford said.
Ford made the remarks Friday in Toronto where he said he believes Americans are good neighbours, but need to start acting that way.
When asked for a comment in response to Trump’s latest post, a spokesperson for Canada’s embassy in Washington said Ambassador Mark Wiseman has “engaged directly with key administration and Hill officials regarding the wildfire emergency in Canada, our efforts to address it, and the impact of wildfire smoke on Canada and the U.S.”
Four Michigan members of the House of Representatives wrote a letter to Carney warning him that the U.S. “will look elsewhere, and act on our own” if more action isn’t taken.
Carney did not directly address the letter when asked about it by reporters on Thursday, but took a jab at the current U.S. administration’s climate change policies.
“Climate change is everyone’s responsibility — truly everyone’s — including the United States,” he said in French during a news conference in London, Ont.
Tom Barrett, another Republican member of the House of Representatives, ratcheted that pressure up on Friday, suggesting in a post on X that the U.S. should halt the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
“Because Canadian wildfire smoke is pouring into Michigan. Do you think we should delay the Gordie Howe Bridge opening until Canada takes responsibility and gets control of these fires?” he asked in the post.
American political adviser Katie Miller — who is married to Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff — posted an image on X of a map showing Canada’s wildfires with the words: “This is why Canada should be the 51st state.”
For his part, Trump has created a new federal fire service and has revived a previously discredited “full suppression” policy in an effort to quickly stamp out wildfires on U.S. soil. That policy is under scrutiny after three U.S. government firefighters died in a Colorado wildfire last month.
Nicholas Dale, a 56-year-old helicopter pilot from Sooke, B.C., also died earlier this week while on active firefighting duty in Colorado.
Massachusetts asks how it can help
Ford said he has spoken to other U.S. elected officials and noted that not all of them are attacking Canada: Some are offering help instead.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, called the premier to ask how her state can contribute.
“I asked for water bombers, I don’t think they have the water bombers available. I asked for firefighters, anything that they can send,” Ford said.
Republicans blast Canada over wildfire smoke, air quality in northern U.S.
Northwestern Ontario Wildfires Latest: Evacuation order issued for area near Lac des Mille Lacs
The premier said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, also a Democrat, asked for help to rescue two groups of campers stranded in the middle of a lake in wildfire country.
Ford said a joint operation between the Ontario Provincial Police and the Canadian Armed Forces managed to rescue both groups of campers, leaving Walz “so, so grateful.”
“As for other elected officials in the U.S., you know I have to remind the American people: When there were wildfires in California, we had our waterbombers on standby,” Ford said.
“When the hurricanes happened … we sent our linemen down there to reconnect [electricity]. We sent resources, we sent everything.”
The Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the U.S. Capitol, are barely visible from an overlook in Arlington, Va., as heavy smoke from wildfires shrouds the landscape in Washington.
The Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol are barely visible from an overlook in Arlington, Va., as heavy smoke from wildfires shrouds the landscape in Washington on Friday. (J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press)
In an interview airing Saturday on CBC Radio’s The House, Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience Eleanor Olszewski told CBC News the U.S. criticism is off the mark.
“The challenge doesn’t know any borders,” she told host Catherine Cullen. “You could argue that we have mutual responsibilities, but the fact of the matter is we’re addressing those responsibilities by forest management techniques, for one, but also by responding, making sure our response to wildfires is as robust as it can possibly be.”
Olszewski said U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra wants the Canada/U.S. collaborative efforts to battle wildfires, where both countries come to one another’s aid, to continue.
“We have helped the Americans a number of times in terms of sending firefighters to assist the Americans regarding their wildfire situation, the Palisades fire previously,” she said, singling out Canadian efforts to help the U.S. battle destructive wildfires in California last year.
“In return, the Americans do send firefighters to assist us. So … this is a relationship that’s been ongoing for decades.”
5)Fact-checking Donald Trump’s national address on U.S. election integrity
President’s claims of China interfering in the 2020 election contradict previous intelligence report
Courtesy: David Michael Lamb · CBC News · Jul 17, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech to the American people on Thursday evening was brief compared to many addresses he has given as president.
At 27 minutes, it was considerably shorter than his last State of the Union speech to Congress — the longest in American history at an hour and 47 minutes.
He used the time to repeat long-debunked claims that the 2020 election was “rigged,” and said the U.S. election system is currently unable to prevent cheating and interference.
Notably, Trump accused China of compromising the 2020 presidential election by stealing or hacking data and trying to make sure Trump didn’t win. To support his claims, he announced the release of newly declassified documents from the CIA and others.
Trump accuses China of election interference in national address about voting results
But many of his claims contradict reports and assessments by U.S. intelligence officials that have been known publicly for years. Let’s look at the facts.
Did China manipulate the 2020 election?
The president said he was declassifying sensitive information that showed China had illicitly acquired 220 million U.S. voter files, including names, addresses and other data used to register to vote. Trump called it a “security nightmare.”
But at least some of this information is easily obtained. Many states openly and non-controversially sell versions of their voter data to candidates, political consultants and others who run campaigns.
Trump’s allegations also contradict an unclassified 2021 U.S. intelligence community assessment that found no indications any foreign actor attempted to alter or succeeded in altering “any technical aspect” of the 2020 vote, including voter registrations, ballots, tabulations or results.
Do the documents back up Trump?
Trump said members of the “deep state” — none of whom he identified — had acted to suppress information about China’s “sinister” election meddling. Trump said China wanted him to lose the 2020 election and had taken steps to make sure that happened. He cited two CIA documents, which were among those put on the White House website on Thursday.
However, the documents do not state that China directly interfered in the election or did anything to change its outcome. In some cases, they say the opposite.
A document with some of the text blacked out.
One of the intelligence documents Donald Trump released, claiming it shows interference by China in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. (White House)
The first one, from August 2020, is an assessment of foreign threats to the upcoming election. It says Russia, China, Iran and others have the capability to interfere in the voting process, steal sensitive data or call the result into question.
But it doesn’t claim that any states were actually doing that, and says they would likely be detected if they were.
That same document said China wanted Trump to lose and had tried to sway public opinion online, as Trump claims.
But it also says Russia was doing the opposite, using a “range of measures” to boost Trump’s candidacy. Those measures included allegations that Joe Biden was engaged in criminal activity related to Ukraine. Trump didn’t mention these Russian efforts in his speech last night.
A document with some text blacked out.
A newly released intelligence document that, according to Donald Trump, shows interference by China in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. (White House)
The second document goes into more detail about China’s efforts to sway public opinion, but its main conclusion is that China “has not deployed influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.”
It added that Chinese leaders wanted stability in their relationship with the U.S., and that they could work with whoever won.
Are there threats to election infrastructure?
Trump also raised the alarm that foreign states could attack voter registration databases and election websites, as well as electronic voting machines and ballot counters. He described these systems as “vulnerable and easily compromised.”
But the intelligence document Trump cites characterizes these threats as a possibility, not that they were happening. In the case of voting machines, the document expresses doubt that a foreign state would be able to interfere.
“It probably would be difficult to coordinate a campaign to alter voting results on a wide scale,” the report said.
Are mail-in ballots ‘inherently corrupt’?
In his speech, Trump also attacked mail-in voting, which he has done repeatedly for years.
He said ballots sent through the mail are “inherently corrupt” and pledged to put an end to the practice except in cases of illness, disability, military deployments or travel. He described mail-in ballots as a “vulnerability” that must be stopped.
However, in March of this year, Trump used a mail-in ballot himself to vote in a Florida special election.
In April, Trump issued an executive order that attempted to crack down on mail-in voting by demanding the postal service refuse to deliver ballots to anyone not on newly created federal mail voter lists.
Trump, however, has never put forward any evidence that mail-in voting constitutes cheating or compromises elections.
6)U.S. begins new Iran strikes after Trump says ships will be charged to use the Strait of Hormuz
Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press
By Jon Gambrell, Josh Boak, Konstantin Toropin And Will Weissert, July 13, 2026
The U.S. announced a new round of strikes on Iran on Monday, hours after President Donald Trump said Washington is “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and, in a seeming policy reversal, will charge other ships for safe passage.
All of that comes as Iran has insisted it actually controls the critical waterway, and as the new exchange of fire threatened a return to all-out war.
U.S. Central Command announced on social media that the U.S. military had begun another round of strikes against Iran.
“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.
Moments after the military announced the new strikes, Trump called it “another major attack.”
“We’re hitting them very hard. And it’ll continue, and we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re knocking out all of their offensive capability and we’re controlling the straits. We’re putting the blockade back.”
Trump also provided new details on his administration doing an about-face and suggesting it will charge tolls for ships going through the strait, after previously suggesting that it wouldn’t.
“We’re protecting a very rich portion of the world,” he said. “We’re spending money. And so, what we’ve done is, we are going to be reimbursed for protection.”
It’s a change in U.S. policy that, until now, said the strait should remain open to all without tolls — as it was before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Any attempt by the U.S. or Iran to charge fees would violate global norms on freedom of navigation and raise tensions, likely causing further economic disruption far beyond the region.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 7.8% to $81.92 a barrel on Monday, still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war.
Trump says Iran failed a test
Earlier, Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that the agreement reached last month was “built to test” Iran, adding that “when you’re dealing with sleazebags don’t mean much.”
Trump said he questioned why the U.S. was entering into a deal to create a ceasefire with Iran rather than moving toward a full deal first. Trump last week declared the ceasefire was “over.”
“They didn’t honor the test,” the president said.
Exchanges of fire in recent days, sparked by Iranian attacks on ships, had already cast further doubt on the interim peace deal. Washington had lifted a blockade it imposed in mid-April as part of that deal, which also called for the strait to be fully reopened.
“We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE,” Trump said on social media. “All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait.”
The president said the U.S. would be “reimbursed” by 20% of the value of cargo to help cover “any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security.”
The U.S. military said it will resume its blockade of Iranian ports Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT.
The struggle over the strait is escalating
Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees in accordance with the interim peace deal. The U.S. has disputed that.
Iran on Monday vowed to fight back against any U.S. interference in the strait. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi mocked Trump on social media and used his support for tolls to legitimize Iran’s position.
“POTUS is absolutely right. Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service,” Araghchi wrote on X. “Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER. 20% is of course too much. We will be fair.”
The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency overseeing international shipping, said it was waiting to find out more about Trump’s proposal but remained opposed to tolls for passage through international waterways.
“There is no legal basis through which to introduce mandatory tolls simply to transit through a strait,” it said in a statement.
The US had opposed charging fees in the strait
Meeting with Gulf leaders late last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken forcefully against Iran charging fees for transit through the strait.
“That’s international waterway. There isn’t a nation on Earth that supports having to pay money to go through the straits,” Rubio told reporters in Bahrain on June 25.
Rubio also said there was “zero support among the Gulf countries for any sort of toll or fees or anything that charges for the use of international waters. The president’s made it clear that’s not going to happen.”
A fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed through the strait before Iran effectively shut it down at the start of the war, driving up global prices of energy, fertilizer and other goods. Traffic had picked up after last month’s agreement but remained well below prewar levels.
The American military has tried to establish a route through the strait along the coast of Oman that would be outside of Iranian control. Iran has attacked ships using that route, saying the U.S. is violating the interim peace deal. The U.S. has attacked Iran in response, drawing Iranian attacks on U.S.-allied Arab states.
US strikes as allied Arab states report a wave of attacks
The U.S. military said it struck dozens of sites Monday, including air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment, and small boats in response to an Iranian attack on a container ship the day before. The U.S. said it used drone ships for the first time to hit an Iranian ship maintenance facility and submarine on Sunday.
Missile alert sirens sounded three times Monday in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. There was no immediate word on damage.
Separately, Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said its consulate in Iraq had been attacked. It did not immediately blame anyone for the attack or disclose damages or casualties.
The oil-rich kingdom — home to several U.S. military bases — also condemned Iran and “its factions and militias loyal to it in Iraq” for attacking what it described as “several border points” and a maritime oil drilling platform that belonged to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.
In Jordan, the kingdom’s military said it shot down four Iranian missiles in an incident that “resulted in zero casualties or material damage.” Jordan also hosts U.S. military forces and aircraft.
In Iran, authorities reported attacks in Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Markazi provinces and said at least two people were killed, according to state-run IRNA news agency. Semiofficial Iranian media also reported strikes in the eastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, which is on a coast of the Gulf of Oman.
Iran blames the US for the chaos in the region
Those attacks on Iran raised the possibility that Gulf Arab states were retaliating. There were unclaimed attacks on Iran on Thursday.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei blamed Washington for the chaos gripping the region. He said Iran wouldn’t agree to visits by the International Atomic Energy Agency to nuclear sites the U.S. bombed in 2025. That’s where Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium is believed to be entombed.
Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was “over” and the U.S. ended waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in U.S. dollars. But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war.
Iran and the U.S. are nearly halfway through the 60-day period in which they were supposed to negotiate such an agreement, which was also supposed to address Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
___ Boak, Weissert and Toropin reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Mae Anderson in New York, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.