President Donald Trump has confirmed that the United States military carried out new limited strikes on Iran's air defence systems on Friday, describing the action as “minor”, as Iranian media reported explosions on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran claimed it had shot down an American drone.
“They knocked out — they built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five,” Mr Trump told reporters shortly after arriving in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday evening. He gave no further details of the target, but said the operation had been limited and swiftly completed.
Iranian state media reported the sound of two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm Island, which sits in the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway through which about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passed before the war. The state news agency IRNA quoted local witnesses as saying two projectiles had struck the island after the sound of an aircraft was heard overhead.
Earlier on Friday night, Iranian media, citing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the country's air defences had destroyed an American MQ-1 Predator drone over Qeshm. Washington has not commented on the drone claim, and there was no independent confirmation of it.
The strikes were the first American military action since Tuesday's midterm elections in the United States, in which Mr Trump's Republican Party lost control of both chambers of Congress. The Associated Press reported that the electoral setback was stoked in part by voter dissatisfaction with the president's handling of the conflict and by elevated fuel prices, a by-product of the war that has affected almost every sector of the global economy.
They also followed what the US military described as defensive strikes on Monday, when explosions were heard on the islands of Qeshm and Hengam in the Strait of Hormuz and in the nearby mainland area of Bandar Abbas. American officials have said most of Iran's air defence systems were destroyed or severely degraded during Israel's bombardment in June 2025 and in the early stages of the current conflict, which began on 28 February.
The confirmation came on the same day that diplomatic efforts to end the eight-month-old war gathered pace. Two Middle East government officials said Iran was reviewing proposals presented by chief mediator Qatar aimed at addressing differences with the United States over Tehran's nuclear programme, the thorniest issue in the dispute and one Mr Trump insists must be resolved as part of any deal.
Mediators and Iran have discussed a potential bridge deal designed to pave the way for further talks, according to regional officials. Under the proposal presented by Qatari mediators, trust-building measures would be carried out over two days: the United States would lift its blockade and release some of the billions of dollars in Iranian funds frozen over the years, while Tehran would allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency into sites bombed by the US and Israel. On the second day, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz under a modified agreement it has reached with Oman, as a temporary arrangement until a permanent deal on the waterway is reached with other Gulf countries.
Following those measures, the two sides would begin extensive talks on Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium and other aspects of its programme. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran holds 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 per cent purity, a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent. Reuters and Axios have reported that the two sides are close to agreeing on a 14-point memorandum under which Iran would agree not to develop a nuclear weapon and to halt enrichment for at least 12 years.
Tehran, however, insists on several concessions before it will engage in negotiations over its atomic activities, including an end to the US blockade on its ports, the lifting of sanctions, the unfreezing of its assets, compensation for war damage, and an end to hostilities throughout the region, including Israeli operations in Lebanon. One of the officials briefed on the mediation stressed that, at least for the moment, the Iranians remain unwilling to negotiate until Washington agrees to those core conditions.
The White House declined to comment on the Qatari-presented proposals, but Mr Trump said on Friday that mediators' discussions with Iran continue. “We are talking to Iran. We have been,” he said, adding that the United States remained in control of the conflict. He has also said the war will be “over quickly” and described the talks as “very good”, while telling reporters earlier in the week that Washington would soon decide whether further military action was needed. In a separate move, US Central Command announced late on Friday that the United States was offering a reward of up to 20 million dollars, with possible relocation, for information about Iran's nuclear programme, including its facilities, equipment and associated personnel. What happens next is likely to turn on whether Tehran responds to the Qatari proposals with a counter-offer, whether the limited strikes remain a one-off warning or the prelude to something larger, and whether the Strait of Hormuz — still effectively blockaded — reopens under the proposed bridge deal.
