US Shoots Down Iranian Drones Over Hormuz as Peace Deal Nears Signing
U.S. Central Command intercepted multiple Iranian attack drones targeting commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz early Friday, even as Pakistani and U.S. officials said the two countries were within days of finalizing a peace agreement to end the Middle East war.
U.S. Central Command said Friday it intercepted multiple Iranian attack drones launched toward commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, even as officials from Washington, Tehran, and Pakistan's mediating government all said a peace agreement to formally end the Middle East war was days from being signed.
Post by @CENTCOM\n\n
The simultaneous violence and deal signals capture where the conflict stands: "very close," in the words of a senior U.S. administration official briefing reporters after a closed-door session on June 12—but with both sides still firing and leaking contradictory versions of what they have agreed to.
\n\n"Iran launched multiple one-way attack drones in an attempt to strike commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz," CENTCOM said on June 13. "US forces have downed all of them in recent hours as traffic flow through the strait continues unimpeded."
\n\nA day earlier, Tehran's forces had targeted two commercial vessels attempting to transit the strait without Iranian permission, in what U.S. forces also intercepted as a "self-defense" strike. That sequence—drones, intercept, more drones, intercept again—is the backdrop against which negotiators are trying to finalize an agreement that would, among other things, reopen the strait permanently.
\n\nThe Deal's Contours, as Both Sides Describe Them
\n\nSenior U.S. officials described an agreement "75 percent there" on June 12, with broad concepts and detailed provisions settled but the final text unsigned. The framework—called the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding because talks were held in Pakistan's capital—would require Iran to dismantle its nuclear enrichment program and destroy its stockpile of enriched uranium in exchange for sanction relief tied to performance benchmarks. "None of their money will be released until they perform," one official said.
\n\nIran's state-affiliated Mehr news agency published what it claimed was a 14-point draft, including a commitment not to develop nuclear weapons, a 30-day timeline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and the release of $24 billion in frozen funds. The White House disputed the characterization. President Trump, writing on Truth Social on June 12, said the leaked terms had "NOTHING to do" with what had been agreed in writing and called Iranian officials "very dishonorable" negotiating partners. He warned Tehran to "get their act together, and FAST."
\n\nIranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi later appeared to soften the confrontation, posting on Telegram that the Islamabad MOU had "never been closer." Trump reposted Araqchi's message to his own Truth Social feed.
\n\nPakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country's mediators believed a final text had been reached and was awaiting leadership-level approval in both capitals. "Peace has never been this close as it is now," Sharif wrote on X, tagging Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and both lead Iranian officials.
\n\nFrance's foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, called the situation cautiously hopeful after speaking with Iranian FM Araqchi on June 12. "I am cautious, but the positive signs are accumulating. I feel both sides have a will to reach this deal," Barrot told French television channel LCI. A senior U.S. official put the odds of final signing at "80 to 85 percent."
\n\nIndia's Protests, and the Cost Already Paid
\n\nWhile negotiations unfold, a diplomatic rift opened between Washington and New Delhi. On June 13, India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar called U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in what he described on X as a "strong protest" over U.S. strikes that killed three Indian sailors aboard a Palau-flagged tanker on June 10. Two additional strikes—on June 8 and June 11—forced the evacuation of dozens more Indian crew members. "Such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified," Jaishankar wrote.
\n\nIndia has the largest pool of internationally active seafarers in the world—more than 320,000 active sailors as of 2025, according to the country's Shipping Ministry. The Strait of Hormuz blockade is not an abstraction for New Delhi. It is an employment and diplomatic crisis, and the White House said only that it was in "direct contact" with India on the issue, without elaborating.
\n\nIsraeli Defense Minister Israel Katz voiced a different concern: that a U.S.-Iran agreement might secure American objectives without adequately addressing Israel's broader security interests—Tehran's missile program, its support for regional armed groups, and Israeli security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. "Israel must retain the ability to act independently to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons," Katz wrote on Telegram.
\n\nWhether the Islamabad MOU gets signed this weekend—as Trump suggested was possible—or not, the strait will not reopen, the drones will not stop, and India's diplomatic grievance will not be resolved until ink is on paper. That is the gap between "very close" and done.
