US forces reportedly struck Iran’s Qeshm Island, hours after Trump said a deal with Iran "could happen", while Iran’s parliament speaker warned of a "new battlefield" in the war. Neither side has formally confirmed the details of the attack.
A US Air Force jet reportedly struck an IRGC surface-to-air missile launch system on Qeshm Island after a missile was fired from the island at a US aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz, according to US media outlets, as reported by Euronews. The Wall Street Journal first reported the strikes, according to the Straits Times, and said Iranian state media had reported five explosions in rapid succession on the island.
Unnamed US officials described the attacks as defensive, according to the Straits Times. The Journal said the strikes were not publicly announced, to avoid the impression that Washington intended to resume major combat operations.
CENTCOM has issued no formal statement confirming or denying the accounts. No Iranian military or government official has formally confirmed a direct attack on the island, according to Euronews.
The Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its electronic warfare systems downed two US MQM-170 reconnaissance drones south of Qeshm Island and destroyed a US MQ-9 drone east of the Strait of Hormuz, Euronews reported. These claims are unverified by the sources available.
The timing of the strikes is disputed. Euronews reports that residents heard explosions overnight, and that Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf spoke on Tuesday. The Straits Times says the US launched the strikes on Nov 3. Africanews, citing the Wall Street Journal, says they were launched on Monday, on the eve of the midterms. Africanews was available to this report only as a headline and short excerpt, so its account cannot be verified beyond that.
The strikes came a day before midterm elections in which Trump’s Republican Party was predicted to suffer a drubbing, in part over dissatisfaction with the war and the inflation it has brought, according to the Straits Times.
Trump said on Nov 2 that a deal with Iran "could happen". On Nov 3, Ghalibaf said that "the ball is now in America’s court to prevent war", according to the Straits Times.
The US, alongside Israel, launched a surprise strike campaign on Iran in late February. The Straits Times says the war has not achieved its aims and has been stalemated for months. Oil prices plunged by more than 7% on Nov 2 on optimism over a possible end to the eight-month-old conflict, according to the Straits Times.
Euronews reports that Ghalibaf said senior commanders and Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader, reportedly decided on "a response without geographical limits". Former minister Manouchehr Mottaki said this could extend to US bases in Europe, according to Euronews.
Ghalibaf says Iran is at its highest defensive readiness and that Washington must prevent escalation. Indirect talks are reportedly ongoing. A senior Iranian official said Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if its demands are met, according to the reporting cited.
The sources do not include casualty or damage figures for Qeshm Island, and they contain no response from the White House or Trump specifically on the Qeshm strikes. Key facts about the strikes rest mainly on US media reports and the Straits Times, and the timing remains contested.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.