US strikes Iran's Qeshm Island; Iran says US reply to Hormuz plan 'unconvincing'

The United States carried out a strike on an Iranian air defense facility early on Tuesday, President Donald Trump confirmed in a statement to Fox News. According to Iranian media, the target was Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf, close to the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump described the strike as a "minor attack" that "was not war." US officials told American media it was a "defensive" strike, carried out after Iran opened fire on a US aircraft. There is no information on casualties on Qeshm.

"I don't want to… kill a lot of people," Trump said, adding: "If we have to, we'll have to." In an interview with the Financial Times, he said Washington was "getting everything it wants."

Dispute over the Hormuz plan

The strike came amid indirect talks on an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if the US meets seven Iranian demands, including the lifting of sanctions and an end to the US naval blockade.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X that the US response "to Iran's rights and demands was not convincing" and that the strait would be opened "only in that case."

Qatar, which is mediating, says the channel has not been cut. Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said both sides "remain committed to the negotiating process" and that Doha is facilitating "the exchange of proposals in real time."

Attacks on tankers

The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said two unidentified projectiles struck the engine room of a tanker about 14 nautical miles (26 km) northeast of Limah in Oman. There were no casualties.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims that four tankers hit mines and caught fire after switching off their navigation systems and using "unauthorized routes," that it seized two more ships and shot down two US LUCAS attack drones. These claims have not been independently verified.

US political scientist John Mearsheimer warned of the limits of the new approach: "If a forty-day bombing campaign didn't work, how is a three-day one going to work?" In his assessment, Iranian retaliation could draw the US into a longer conflict.

We published the broader context of relations between Congress and the White House over the war in the analysis Referendum at the gas pump.