Trump Says US Forces Struck Iranian Air Defence System on Qeshm Island Again

President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US military carried out new limited strikes on Iran, targeting an Iranian air defence system on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump spoke to reporters shortly after arriving in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday evening. He described the action as "minor" and did not offer further details about the target.

"We do minor strikes," Trump said. "They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five."

Explosions reported in the Suza area

Iranian state media reported the sound of two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm Island. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said early on Saturday that two missiles had struck the island. The state news agency IRNA cited local witnesses who said they heard an aircraft before two projectiles hit the Suza area.

Iranian officials had released no official assessment of the damage, and there were no confirmed reports of casualties. The exact connection between the impacts reported by Iranian media and the operation Trump described has not been independently established.

Iran claims a US drone was destroyed

Iran's state broadcaster IRIB carried an army statement saying Iranian air defence forces intercepted and destroyed a US MQ-9 drone over Qeshm Island. The United States has not confirmed the claim, and no US aircraft loss has been verified.

Washington gives little away as talks continue

US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said the situation was "relatively calm". A CENTCOM official told Al Jazeera the command was aware of the reports and had no further comment. Late on Friday, CENTCOM announced on X that the US was offering a reward of up to $20 million and possible relocation for information about Iran's nuclear program.

Trump said the two sides were still talking. "We are talking to Iran. We have been," he said earlier on Friday, and he claimed Washington had made "a lot of progress" in the talks. Qatar, the chief mediator, presented new proposals to Iranian officials on Friday addressing Tehran's nuclear program, two Middle East government officials told the Associated Press. Tehran is insisting on core concessions before it engages on the nuclear issue, including an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports, sanctions relief, the release of frozen assets and compensation for war damage. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke on Friday with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Qatari government said.

The second strike on Qeshm in a week

Friday's strikes were the first since Trump's Republican Party lost both chambers of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections. On Monday, November 2, the US military carried out what it called defensive strikes on Qeshm, hitting surface-to-air missile positions after Iran fired at a US aircraft. Explosions were also heard that day on Hengam Island and in the mainland port area of Bandar Abbas.

Qeshm sits at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a large share of the world's seaborne oil passes. Shipping through the strait has been disrupted since the United States and Iran went to war on February 28. What Friday's strike hit, and whether it caused damage or casualties, has not been independently established.