Iran has said the explosions heard on Qeshm Island on Saturday evening were not an American attack, as Tehran handed Washington a nuclear proposal through Qatari mediators — a day of claim and counter-claim around the Strait of Hormuz that left shipping, diplomacy and the risk of a wider war all hanging in the balance.
Iranian state television said officials had not confirmed any missile strikes on Iranian territory after blasts were heard in several areas, including on Qeshm Island in the strait and in the port city of Jask. The broadcaster suggested the evening explosions might be related to Iranian military activity in the waterway, where Iran said two vessels had hit mines and a third had caught fire.
The picture was clouded by conflicting accounts. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said two missiles had struck Qeshm Island, with no official information on possible damage, and neither Iran nor the United States commented on that report. Another source cited by Tasnim said the Qeshm blasts were not related to missile strikes at all. Reuters said it was not able to confirm any of the reported strikes, and the US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the explosions.
The shipping toll around the strait grew through the day. Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy said two oil tankers had caught fire after hitting mines while attempting to pass through an unauthorised route in the Strait of Hormuz, and the semi-official Fars news agency reported later that a third tanker had also suffered an explosion and caught fire. Monitors from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a bulk carrier and military forces were involved in a separate incident in the Gulf of Oman, about 18 nautical miles east of the United Arab Emirates' city of Khor Fakkan, with damage unknown and no clear link to the reported American action.
The American side of the day's action at sea had already been reported: the US military said on Saturday evening that its air force had fired at the stern of a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman, disabling it as it tried to get through the blockade. The vessel, the St Kitts-flagged M/V Huda, had visited an Iranian port before attempting to leave regional waters, and its crew had ignored repeated warnings, according to US Central Command.
Running alongside the military incidents was the most significant diplomatic development in days. Iran has submitted a nuclear proposal to Washington through Qatar, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday, saying the United States was reviewing it but that discussions would depend on Washington first meeting Tehran's seven demands. Those demands include sanctions relief, access to frozen assets and war reparations, while Washington insists nuclear issues must feature in the initial talks.
Qatar, which has been mediating between the two sides, denied reports on Saturday that the United States and Iran had failed to reach a deal. The Qatari prime minister affirmed that both sides were continuing to work towards an agreement, and the Associated Press reported that Iran was reviewing proposals presented by the chief mediator aimed at addressing differences over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Regional officials described a possible two-day confidence-building plan: on the first day the United States would lift its maritime blockade and release some of Iran's frozen funds, in return for Iran allowing inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel, and on the second day Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz under a modified arrangement agreed with Oman that has not yet been approved by Washington. One official stressed that the Iranians remain unwilling for now to negotiate over their atomic activities until the United States agrees to several of the core conditions Tehran has been demanding as part of any ceasefire.
Tehran also answered Washington's newest pressure tactic with open contempt. The Revolutionary Guards dismissed Task Force Iron Gate, the small unit the United States announced on Saturday to crack down on the movement of weapons and sanctioned material to Iran through its land borders and the Caspian Sea, as "wordplay", saying it would not work because Tehran had made preparations and communicated closely with its neighbours.
The day's events sit inside a conflict that has been running since the United States and Israel began attacks on Iran in February, with American forces blockading movements to and from Iranian ports since April. Washington said on 2 November that it had struck Qeshm Island in a limited defensive measure against Iranians using surface-to-air missiles against US assets, and President Donald Trump has hinted at renewing major attacks since last week's midterm elections — though there has been no sign of a large-scale American military operation.
What happens next will turn on whether the proposal delivered through Qatar can move the two sides from trading blows to trading concessions. If the confidence-building plan takes hold, the blockade could ease and the strait — through which about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas would normally transit — could reopen within days. If it stalls, Saturday's blasts, the burning tankers and the disabled cargo ship will stand as a warning of how quickly a war fought at sea and in the air can widen, with energy markets and the wider region caught in the middle.
