WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (TodayViralUSA) — The U.S. military carried out a new round of limited strikes on Iran on Friday, targeting an air-defense system on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump said, describing the action as “minor” even as he insisted Tehran is eager for a deal.
“They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device, and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five,” Trump told reporters after arriving in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday evening. He declined to discuss the specific target.
Explosions reported in the Suza area
Iranian state media reported two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm, the largest island in the strategic waterway through which a large share of the world’s oil shipments pass. State broadcaster IRIB carried an Iranian army statement claiming its air defenses had shot down an American MQ-9 drone over the island, a claim Washington has not confirmed. U.S. Central Command described the situation around the island as “relatively calm.”
The strikes were the first since Tuesday’s midterm elections and the second round in a week. On Monday, the eve of the vote, the U.S. hit targets on Qeshm and neighboring Hengam island and near the mainland port of Bandar Abbas in what officials called defensive strikes against Iranian surface-to-air missile sites.
Talks continue amid pressure
Trump said the two countries were making “a lot of progress” in negotiations and that Iran wants “to make a deal very badly,” pointing to soaring inflation and the losses its military has suffered during the roughly eight-month conflict. Iranian officials have said they need to see “practical measures” from Washington, not “paper commitments,” before moving to a new phase of diplomacy.
The war and its effect on gasoline prices were widely seen as a factor in Republicans’ heavy midterm losses. Democrats, who will control both chambers of Congress in January, have signaled they intend to scrutinize the Pentagon’s conduct of the conflict.
Sources & Credits
- Associated Press via NBC News: U.S. military carries out new targeted strikes on Iran
- CNBC: Trump says U.S. carried out ‘minor strikes’ on Iran
- Al Jazeera: Trump confirms new US strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island
- Associated Press via PBS News: U.S. strikes Iranian targets in Strait of Hormuz, U.S. official tells AP
Image: Satellite view of Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, NASA image using data courtesy of the University of Maryland’s Global Land Cover Facility, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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