Trump Says US Carried Out New ‘Minor’ Strikes on Iran

Iranian state media reported the sound of two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm, in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump, speaking to reporters on Friday, called the action “minor” and said: “They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five.”

There is still a great deal the public version does not establish cleanly, including the precise target site and the extent of any damage. But even in Trump’s own minimizing language, this was another US strike in a waterway that is too strategically important for the word “minor” to do much calming work. Qeshm sits beside one of the world’s most critical oil shipping routes, which has already been disrupted during the war.

The Guardian reported that the strike followed earlier US action that the military had described as “defensive” on Monday, when explosions were heard on Qeshm, Hengam and in the nearby mainland area of Bandar Abbas.

The timing also matters politically. According to The Guardian, these were the first strikes since Trump’s Republican party suffered a sharp setback in the US midterm elections, with voter frustration over the war and fuel prices helping drive the result. Since then, Trump has moved between threats to “destroy” Iran and suggestions that a resolution may be near. That is not a subtle gap in messaging. It is the administration trying to preserve coercion and diplomacy in the same sentence.

One of the clearer signs of what Washington still considers central came later, when US Central Command announced on X that it was offering “a reward of up to $20m and possible relocation for information about Iran’s nuclear program, including its facilities, equipment, and associated personnel, such as those in the scientific community, or the movement of any of the above”. The post linked to the state department’s Rewards for Justice program.

Trump also said mediators’ discussions with Iran were continuing. The Guardian reported that Qatar has remained involved, with calls on Friday involving both Trump and Qatar’s emir, and separately the US defense secretary and his Qatari counterpart. So the pattern is not hidden: talks are still being talked about, and strikes are still being carried out.