Iran fires missiles, Khamenei threatens to sink US warship as nuclear talks start

South China Morning Post · Feb 17, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Iran fired live missiles towards the Strait of Hormuz while its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned that the US warship deployed in the Gulf could be sunk, as nuclear talks between the two countries started.“We constantly hear that they [the US] have sent a warship towards Iran. A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it,” Khamenei said in a speech on Tuesday.The US and Iran are holding their second round of talks about Iran’s nuclear programme on Tuesday in Geneva as Washington ramps up its military presence in the Middle East and Tehran holds large-scale maritime exercises.As the talks began, local media announced that Iran had fired live missiles towards the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had announced a maritime military exercise on Monday in waterways that are crucial international trade routes through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil passes.The semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said missiles launched inside Iran and along its coast had struck their targets in the Strait of Hormuz.Iranian state TV reported on Tuesday that the negotiations with the US would be indirect and focus only on Iran’s nuclear programme, not domestic policies including its bloody crackdown on protesters last month.