US Strikes Iranian Air Defence Site on Qeshm Island as Tehran Weighs Qatari Proposals

Trump played down the operation when he spoke to reporters after arriving in West Palm Beach, Florida. "They knocked out — they built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five," he said, calling the action "minor". He gave no further details about the target.

The strike matters to Gulf governments and businesses because of where it happened. Qeshm sits in the strait that carries much of the region's oil exports, and shipping there has been disrupted for months by a war that is now more than eight months old. It also came as mediators were trying to agree a deal that would reopen the waterway.

Iran's state news agency IRNA quoted local witnesses as saying two projectiles hit Qeshm after an aircraft was heard over the island. Earlier on Friday night, Iranian media cited the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying the country's air defences had destroyed a US MQ-1 Predator drone over the island. According to Gulf News, US officials say most of Iran's air defences were destroyed or badly damaged in Israel's June 2025 bombardment and early in the current conflict, and they expect Iran to try to rebuild them.

This was the second US strike in the area this week. On Monday the US military reported what it called defensive strikes, and explosions were heard on Qeshm and Hengam islands and in nearby Bandar Abbas on the mainland. Friday's action was the first since Trump's Republican Party lost both chambers of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections. Voter unhappiness with the war and with high fuel prices contributed to that defeat.

The strike came as Tehran studies proposals from Qatar, the chief mediator, on its nuclear programme. Two Middle East government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iran was reviewing the proposals. One said Iran was still unwilling to negotiate with the Trump administration on its atomic activities until Washington agrees to its core conditions. These include ending the US blockade of Iranian ports, lifting sanctions, unfreezing assets, paying compensation for war damage and ending hostilities across the region, including Israeli operations in Lebanon.

Regional officials described a possible bridge deal, presented recently by Qatari mediators, that would build trust over two days. On the first day, the US would lift its blockade and release some Iranian frozen funds, and Iran would let International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors into sites bombed by the US and Israel. On the second day, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz under a modified arrangement it has agreed with Oman, which the US has not approved. That would be temporary until a permanent deal on the strait is reached with other Gulf states, the officials said. Wider talks on Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium would follow.

According to the IAEA, Iran holds 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, a short technical step from the 90% used in weapons. Iran says its programme is peaceful.

The White House declined to comment on the Qatari proposals. Trump said on Friday that talks through mediators were continuing. "We are talking to Iran. We have been," he said. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke on Friday with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Qatari government said. Separately, Trump and Qatar's emir discussed de-escalation in a phone call.

US Central Command said in a post on X late on Friday that Washington was offering "a reward of up to $20 million and possible relocation" for information about Iran's nuclear programme, including its facilities, equipment and scientists. The post linked to the State Department's Rewards for Justice programme.