U.S. military strikes Iran’s Qeshm Island in limited defensive action
U.S. forces carried out limited strikes on Iranian targets on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz after Iran fired at a U.S. aircraft, officials said, as President Donald Trump described the conflict as a “soft war.”
U.S. forces carried out limited strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, according to U.S. officials, after Iranian forces fired at a U.S. aircraft. The officials described the action as defensive and said it does not signal a return to full-scale U.S. military strikes inside Iran.
A U.S. official said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has routinely targeted and shot at U.S. manned and unmanned aircraft over the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding airspace over the past several weeks. The Monday strike was framed as a response to that pattern rather than the opening of a broader campaign.
The strike came on the eve of the midterm elections, when Iran has become a significant political issue. Americans have been grappling with rising gasoline prices and the economic fallout from a conflict that began about eight months ago. The Pentagon estimates the war has cost taxpayers more than $47 billion. Trump dismissed that figure as “peanuts,” arguing the war was necessary to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon.
Speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday, Trump said the United States is not engaged in a traditional war. “When was the last time we fired anything? This isn’t a war, this is a very soft war,” he said, adding that there has been little shooting for months. He said the conflict could end “at any time” and that the U.S. is negotiating from a position of “total strength.”
Trump also said he was in no hurry to resume military strikes but warned that the United States would bring “the hammer” against Iran soon if the latest round of peace talks does not produce results. He referred to earlier U.S. action against Iran’s nuclear facilities under Operation Midnight Hammer and said that further action against a site known as Pickaxe Mountain remained an option that could be carried out quickly. He stressed that a deal remained possible, saying Iran “wants to make a deal very badly.”
Trump described Iran’s military capacity in sweeping terms, saying its navy, air force and anti-aircraft capabilities were largely gone and that its remaining missiles and drones were limited in number and in the ability to replace them. Those claims were made in his own words and were not independently detailed in the officials’ account of the Qeshm strike.
Officials who spoke to Fox News confirmed the Qeshm action was a defensive measure, not a resumption of full-blown strikes. The episode underscores how the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping corridor, has become a focal point of friction between Washington and Tehran, with each incident carrying implications for regional stability and for the political debate in the United States over the cost and direction of the conflict.
Source: nbcnews.com
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