WASHINGTON/TEHRAN – The US military struck missile launch sites and mine-laying boats in southern Iran on Monday, the US Central Command said.

"US forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces," Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for the command, said in a statement.

"Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines. US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire," he said.

The strikes were carried out in the Bandar Abbas area which hosts Iran's main naval base, destroying two vessels of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and hitting a surface-to-air missile site, said Hawkins.

Four people were killed in the attack, while the total number of casualties remained unclear, Fars News Agency reported, citing Iranian state television.

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Fox News reported that two Iranian boats were spotted laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and a missile site targeted US warplanes. In response, US forces conducted "self-defense" strikes.

The US strikes were "over for now", said the report, citing a senior US official on Monday.

The strikes do not indicate the weeks-long US ceasefire with Iran is over, two sources were quoted as saying.

Options for destroying Iran's enriched uranium

Writing on Truth Social on Monday, US President Donald Trump said Iran's enriched uranium will be destroyed after being handed over to the United States, in place, or at another "acceptable location".

"The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event," he said.

ALSO READ: Report: Iran's supreme leader forbids sending enriched uranium abroad

Trump did not specify how much enriched uranium was involved. The International Atomic Energy Agency has previously monitored Iran's nuclear activities under various inspection arrangements.

Iran has not agreed to transfer enriched uranium aboard

Earlier on Monday, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Tehran had not agreed to transfer enriched uranium abroad, rejecting a report by Saudi-based Al Hadath news channel claiming that "Iran is prepared to remove its highly enriched uranium from its territory."

Tasnim said that the report about the details of a potential memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington was not true.

"In the text of the MoU that exists to this day, there is no statement declaring (Iran's) readiness to remove nuclear materials, and Iran has essentially made no commitment regarding nuclear actions in the memorandum," according to Tasnim.

It added that, like many of the Saudi media's other reports on details of peace talks between Iran and the US, this one aligns with the US psychological operations.

Expansion of Abraham Accords

In another post on Truth Social, Trump said talks with Iran are "proceeding nicely", while urging more countries to join the Abraham Accords with Israel.

Trump said he discussed the issue over the phone on Saturday with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain. These countries should join the Abraham Accords, the US-brokered agreements for Arab-Israeli ties normalization launched during his first term, he said.

"After all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords," Trump wrote.

ALSO READ: Trump says peace agreement with Iran 'largely negotiated'

Trump also suggested that Iran could eventually become part of the Abraham Accords if a broader agreement with Washington is reached.

Reopening international internet access

Separately, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has issued an order to restore access to international internet to the level before the January unrest, Tasnim reported on Monday.

The directive was handed over to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology on Monday and approved by a special government cyberspace headquarters led by First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Aref.

According to the Iranian Students' News Agency, the order will take effect on Tuesday.

Iran restricted international internet access on Jan 8 when nationwide demonstrations over economic issues, including the sharp depreciation of the rial, escalated into clashes that caused casualties and damage to public property, including mosques and government buildings. Tehran has blamed the unrest on the United States and Israel.

After weeks of blackout, international internet access was returned to normal for a while, but the restrictions were reimposed on Feb 28 when the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran.