The US military carried out a limited strike on Iran's Qeshm Island on Monday night after Iranian forces fired a surface-to-air missile at an American aircraft over the Strait of Hormuz, US officials said.
A senior US official told Axios that a US fighter jet destroyed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launcher the missile was fired from, describing the action as self-defense. Two officials who spoke to NBC News said the strike was meant to "take out the launcher" and stressed it was not a resumption of major combat operations against Iran. A third official called it "a defensive measure" against Iranians using surface-to-air missiles on US assets. The Hill reported that radar systems were also hit.
The Pentagon referred questions to US Central Command, which did not immediately comment.
Five blasts reported on the island
Iran's official IRNA news agency reported five explosions in quick succession on Qeshm, the largest island in the Strait of Hormuz, saying their intensity suggested impacts on the island itself. Some residents reported seeing two aircraft overhead. Iranian authorities have not commented on the blasts or on the US accounts of the strike.
Hours earlier, the IRGC Aerospace Force said it had brought down two US MQM-170 reconnaissance drones south of Qeshm using electronic warfare and destroyed what it called the 55th US MQ-9 Reaper east of the strait. Iranian state television aired footage it said showed the operations.
Part of a quiet campaign
According to US officials, IRGC units have routinely fired on US manned and unmanned aircraft over the strait and nearby waters in recent weeks, while US forces intercept drones and missiles aimed at shipping every day. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Qeshm strike was one of a series of limited operations Washington has carried out without public acknowledgment and has deliberately kept quiet. NBC News said the last known US attacks on Iran before Monday came in early September.
Strike lands as talks gather pace
The strike came on the eve of Tuesday's midterm elections, and as Qatari mediators carry a draft proposal to Tehran aimed at ending the eight-month war. Trump had said the US would not strike Iran before the vote. He told Axios on Monday he was "in no rush" to decide whether to resume fighting, adding, "One way or the other, we will do something."
Hours later, Trump told Fox News the US "might have to go after" Pickaxe Mountain, a site linked to Iran's nuclear program, if there is no deal. "We can do that in one hour, as soon as we want, at any time we want," he said. Thousands of US troops remain in the waters off Iran enforcing a naval blockade on Iranian oil exports.
In the same Fox News interview, Trump called Iran "the number one state sponsor of terror" in the world and said it had killed many American soldiers over the past 50 years. He also claimed that Iran's navy, air force and air defense systems were "gone," insisted that "there's no war raging," and said Washington was negotiating from a position of strength.
Video and image: Press TV
