The US military carried out fresh strikes on Iranian air defenses on Qeshm Island after vessels were targeted in the Strait of Hormuz, but negotiations to end the war are ongoing, both sides said Saturday.
“They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five,” President Trump told reporters Friday night en route to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend, describing them as “minor strikes.”
The Friday strikes on Qeshm Island were the first since Tuesday’s midterms, which delivered major victories to Democrats amid voter frustration over the war and rising prices.
At least 11 ships were attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz over the past week, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which said three of them sank.
A potential diplomatic breakthrough may still be taking shape. Iran is showing a willingness to discuss aspects of its nuclear program that had previously been off the table, Bloomberg reported Saturday, citing a diplomat familiar with the talks.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Saturday that mediation between Washington and Tehran remained active and that the US was still willing to find a solution.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday he had spoken with 12 foreign ministers in 48 hours in an effort to prevent further escalation.
Trump has also spoken recently to Al Thani, according to the emir’s office. The Qatari leader said Friday: “We will never have a perfect peace deal but you can’t wait for that perfect moment” at the expense of a good deal, speaking at Oxford University,” Reuters reported.
Under the latest iteration of the proposal from Qatar, the US would lift the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and release some frozen Iranian assets, while Iran would allow for the return of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to tour bombed-out nuclear sites, the Guardian reported.
But the US continues to apply economic pressure on Iran as the talks continue. Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, is establishing a new task force to prevent Iran from using ground routes to transport advanced weapons and other materials, Centcom announced Saturday.
The 20-strong Task Force Iron Gate will coordinate with unnamed US government agencies focusing on dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials, and illegal revenue streams across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea, as the US applies pressure through a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Centcom said. It said the blockade had bottled up $25 billion in Iranian crude oil.
Trump defended the war in Iran to reporters Friday night after Democrats swept to power in Congress in part over voters’ concerns about the war and rising prices — and claimed Iran would have nuked the US otherwise.
“If we didn’t hit Iran, you wouldn’t have Israel today. Israel would be gone; it would have been wiped off the face of the earth,” Trump said on the tarmac at the renamed Donald J. Trump International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“If they had nuclear, they would have used nuclear. They would have obliterated the Middle East. They would have gone after Europe, and they would have gone after some of our cities,” he said.
“We’re dealing with them now. They want to make a deal very badly,” Trump said.
