US President Donald Trump has confirmed that American forces carried out military strikes against Iranian air defence systems on Qeshm Island, even as he claimed that Washington has made significant progress in negotiations with Tehran.
Speaking to reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, Trump described the strikes as limited operations, saying US forces had swiftly destroyed an Iranian anti-aircraft installation.
“We do minor strikes,” Trump said. “They knocked out – they built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device, and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five.”
His remarks came shortly after Iranian state media reported two missile strikes in the Suza area of Qeshm Island, located in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, a major global route for oil shipments.
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB also cited an Iranian army statement claiming that the country’s air defence forces had intercepted and destroyed an American MQ-9 drone over the island.
Responding to reports of explosions on Qeshm Island, the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said the situation remained “relatively calm.”
A CENTCOM official told Al Jazeera that the command was aware of the reports but declined to provide further details.
In a separate development, CENTCOM announced late Friday that the US was offering a reward of up to $20 million, along with possible relocation, for information related to Iran’s nuclear programme.
The offer covers information about nuclear facilities, equipment, associated personnel, including members of the scientific community, and the movement of such assets.
Meanwhile, Trump reiterated that diplomatic engagement with Tehran was continuing, expressing confidence that an agreement could be reached.
“We’re dealing with them now. They want to make a deal,” he told reporters, adding, “We’ve made a lot of progress with Iran,” without elaborating on the nature of the discussions.
On Saturday, Qatar rejected reports suggesting that negotiations between Washington and Tehran had collapsed, warning that spreading such claims could further destabilise the region.
“Promoting such false claims serves only those seeking to prolong the war and destabilise the region,” Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a post on X.
The latest strikes come amid heightened tensions following Tuesday’s US midterm elections, which dealt a significant setback to Trump’s Republican Party. The president had blamed the election outcome, in part, on the ongoing conflict with Iran.
Since the polls, Trump has alternated between issuing fresh military threats against Tehran and signalling that a diplomatic resolution could be within reach.
On Thursday, he warned that the US might have to “destroy” the remainder of Iran, adding that the world would “know soon enough” whether he intended to take further military action.
The developments have raised concerns about a possible resumption of large-scale hostilities. According to The New York Times, citing unnamed Pentagon officials and military commanders, thousands of American troops and naval personnel, deployed across more than a dozen ships and military bases in the Middle East and the US, are positioned to resume major combat operations against Iran if Trump gives the order.
Meanwhile, Tehran has intensified its diplomatic outreach as Washington continues to keep the possibility of renewed military action on the table.
