The US military struck Iran’s Qeshm Island late on Monday in what American officials described as a limited defensive operation, even as President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance said a settlement with Tehran was within reach.
Multiple explosions were heard on Qeshm and in the port city of Bandar Lengeh, Al Jazeera reported. Witnesses told the Iranian state news agency IRNA they saw two planes flying over the island. Qeshm sits at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, the channel through which much of the world’s seaborne oil passes.
Two accounts of why
US officials told CNN the strikes were defensive and intended to protect American assets in the region, and came after Iran fired at a US aircraft. CNN reported the administration deliberately kept the operation quiet so as not to overstate what it characterised as a defensive move.
Al Jazeera’s account puts the emphasis differently, reporting that the strikes targeted Iranian surface-to-air missiles and were aimed at restricting Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping. Hiru News, relaying foreign agency copy, described a limited series of strikes intended to shield US forces and equipment, directed at Iranian air defence systems.
The three accounts agree the operation was limited and that Washington framed it as defensive. They differ on the trigger — an attack on a US aircraft, or the threat to shipping — and no filing reconciles the two. No casualties have been reported.
Iranian claims
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had captured two US reconnaissance drones south of Qeshm and destroyed an MQ-9 east of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Al Jazeera. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran’s demands had been communicated and that “the ball is in the US court.”
Talks continue regardless
The strikes landed in the middle of the diplomatic track this desk reported on Tuesday. Vance told reporters the two sides had “certainly made some progress” towards an off-ramp, and that “we’ll see if we can make some more.”
Trump wrote on Truth Social that “Oil Prices are dropping like a rock… because people feel that there will not be a war with Iran. Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible.” Asked whether he would strike Iran after the US midterm elections, he replied “no.”
Context for Sri Lanka
The Strait of Hormuz carries the tanker traffic that sets Sri Lanka’s imported fuel costs. This desk has reported on two tankers struck by mines in the strait and on the parliamentary adjournment debate on the war’s effect on the country, scheduled for Tuesday in Colombo.
