The United States carried out strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz late on Monday, in what US officials described as limited, defensive action after Iranian forces fired on US aircraft.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported several explosions on the island. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had shot down two US MQM-170 drones south of the island and an MQ-9 drone east of the strait. It was the first US attack on Qeshm since June.
“We are still in a state of war,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said, according to the Guardian, adding that Iran does not “tie our foreign policies to the elections of other countries.”
Talks continue through Qatari and Pakistani mediators. Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said both sides “remain committed to the negotiation process.” Iran’s chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said “the ball is now in America’s court to prevent war.”
President Donald Trump told reporters he was in “no rush” to ramp up strikes on Iran, and said “no” when asked whether major strikes would resume after the midterms. The war began when the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
Sources: BBC News, The Guardian, Al Jazeera
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