US military carries out targeted strikes on Iran that Trump describes as ‘minor’
President Donald Trump said the US military carried out new limited strikes on Iran on Friday, targeting an Iranian air defence system.
Iranian state media reported the sound of two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm Island, which is in the crucial waterway for oil shipments.
Mr Trump in an exchange with reporters described the military action as “minor”.
“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.
Mr Trump did not offer further details about the target.
But US officials have reported that most of Iran’s air defence systems were destroyed or severely degraded during a June 2025 bombardment by Israel and in the early stages of the current conflict. US officials have assessed that Iran would try to rebuild them and other military infrastructure over time.
The US military also reported carrying out what it described as defensive strikes on Monday. Explosions were heard on the islands of Qeshm and Hengam in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, and in the nearby mainland area of Bandar Abbas.
Friday’s strikes are the first since Mr Trump’s Republican Party was dealt a blow in Tuesday’s midterm elections in the US.
The electoral setback — Republicans lost both chambers of Congress — was stoked in part by voter dissatisfaction with Mr Trump’s execution of the conflict and elevated fuel prices, a by-product of the war that has affected nearly every sector of the global economy.
In the days since the polls, Mr Trump has vacillated between threatening to “destroy” Iran and suggesting a resolution to the war is near.
Earlier Friday, two Middle East government officials said Iran was reviewing proposals presented by chief mediator Qatar aimed at addressing differences with the United States about Tehran’s nuclear programme.
But one of the officials stressed that the Iranians, at least at the moment, remain unwilling to engage in negotiations with the Trump administration over their atomic activities until the US agrees to several core conditions that Iran has been demanding be part of any ceasefire agreement.
Differences with Iran over its nuclear programme remain the thorniest issue and one that Mr Trump insists must be resolved as part of any deal meant to end the war.
Meanwhile, US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, announced in a post on X late Friday that the United States was offering “a reward of up to 20 million dollars and possible relocation for information about Iran’s nuclear programme, including its facilities, equipment, and associated personnel, such as those in the scientific community, or the movement of any of the above”.
The post included a link to the State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme.
The White House declined to comment about the Qatari-presented proposals on Iran’s nuclear programme, but Mr Trump noted earlier Friday in an exchange with reporters that mediators’ discussions with Iran continue.
“We are talking to Iran. We have been,” said Mr Trump, who insists the US military remains in control of the conflict with a battered Iran.
Yet, Tehran insists on several concessions from the US, which Mr Trump has declined in the past.
Among the core demands Iran says must be met before engaging in nuclear talks: ending the US blockade on Iran’s ports, lifting sanctions, unfreezing its assets, issuing compensation for war damage and ending hostilities throughout the region, including Israeli operations in Lebanon.
Mediators and Iran have discussed a potential bridge deal aimed at helping pave the way for further talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, according to regional officials.
They said the proposal, which was recently presented to the two sides by Qatari mediators, called for implementing trust-building measures over the course of two days.
These measures include lifting the US blockade and releasing some of the billions of dollars in Iranian frozen funds seized over the years as part of a US campaign to isolate Iran over its nuclear programme. In return, Tehran would allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors at its sites bombed by the US and Israel, the officials said.
On the second day, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in line with a modified agreement that Iran and Oman have reached on the waterway but has not been approved by the United States, the officials said. That mechanism would be temporary until a permanent deal is reached on the strait in co-operation with other Gulf countries, they said.
Following the implementation of the measures, the US and Iran would embark on extensive talks addressing Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium as well as other aspects of its programme, the officials said.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has 440.9kg of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
A flurry of diplomatic phone calls in recent days between leaders in the Persian Gulf and beyond has been aimed at easing tensions in the region. Concerns have mounted over the possibility that Mr Trump could still order the US military to carry out new strikes against Iran.
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth spoke on Friday with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, about developments, according to the Qatari government.
The Qatari government announced the call between the countries’ defence officials after confirming earlier on Friday that Mr Trump and Qatar’s emir had a separate call to discuss efforts to de-escalate tensions.
Later it emerged that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has lifted its missile-range limit.
The comments by its spokesman came days after the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khomeini, warned that “any kind and level of threat” from the US or Israel would face a response without geographic limits.
Asked at a Tehran news conference about the limit on missile ranges, General Hossein Mohebbi said: “That restriction has been lifted for us.”
He did not say whether Iran had missiles capable of exceeding the limit, saying only Iran would “demonstrate these capabilities in practice” rather than make statements.
Iran is not known to have missiles that can go beyond the 2,000-km (1,200-mile) limit – a range that puts parts of Greece and the Balkans, the entire Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and most of Egypt within reach.
However, US officials have said technology from Iran’s space programme can be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The Iranian military, meanwhile, said a tanker east of the Strait of Hormuz had hit a mine and caught fire. It did not identify the tanker’s flag or destination. It said the vessel had turned off its navigational beacon and was sailing in a “prohibited area”.
Published: by Radio NewsHub