Trump strikes Iran near Hormuz, warns of nuclear site attack
Trump confirms a limited US strike on an Iranian air defense site near the Strait of Hormuz and threatens nuclear facilities, as Iran says it downed a US drone and seized two more near Qeshm.
US President Donald Trump said in remarks to Fox News that American forces carried out a "limited" strike overnight Monday into Tuesday on an Iranian air defense facility near the Strait of Hormuz. He said Washington had monitored the site's construction for two months before destroying it once completed. Trump described the operation as not amounting to a wider war, saying the situation is "fully under control."
According to The Wall Street Journal, the strikes hit Iran's Qeshm island overnight Monday. Iran's state news agency reported five explosions there, and local residents said they saw two aircraft flying over the island. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its air defenses shot down a US MQ-9 drone east of the Strait of Hormuz, and that it had seized two other American reconnaissance drones south of Qeshm island. The IRGC's naval force also reported fires on three oil tankers inside the strait after they entered "unauthorized routes," with no casualties reported.
Trump said the United States is monitoring Iran's nuclear facilities and has threatened to strike them again if anyone tries to access them, adding that he is not seeking to kill large numbers of Iranians after the elections, but would act "if necessary."
Tehran demands an end to the war on all fronts
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said ending the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, is "a basic condition for any deal," adding that past experience "closes the door to any optimism about Washington's seriousness in diplomacy." Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, went further, demanding a "full and explicit" US response to Iran's seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran had given a "strong and rational" response and that "the ball is now in Washington's court to prevent war." Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said consultations through Qatari and Pakistani mediators are "very intensive."
According to Al Jazeera, the escalation comes on the 139th day since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding was signed, and 248 days after the war between the two sides broke out. Qatar's foreign ministry stressed that freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is "non-negotiable," as mediation continues amid intermittent military escalation that keeps the region on the edge of a wider war.