President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday evening that United States forces carried out a new limited strike inside Iran. Speaking to reporters on arrival in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump described the strike in his own words. “We do minor strikes,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five.”
The strike Trump described is separate from the United States strikes on Qeshm and Hengam islands on November 2.
United States Central Command, which oversees American forces in the region, has issued no statement confirming the strike. A Central Command official told Al Jazeera that the command was aware of the reports, called the situation relatively calm, and declined to comment further.
Iranian state media reported explosions on Qeshm Island. IRNA and Tasnim reported two missiles or explosions in the Suza area of the island and said there were no casualties. Trump did not name the target of the strike, and it has not been confirmed that the Iranian reports and the Trump’s remarks describe the same event.
Iranian officials have also claimed that their forces shot down American drones. The United States has not confirmed the loss of any drone, and the extent of any damage from the strike has not been independently confirmed.
Trump paired his confirmation of the strike with fresh talk of a deal. “We are not fighting,” he said on Friday. “We’re dealing with them now. They want to make a deal.” He said the United States has made “a lot of progress with Iran” in negotiations mediated by Qatar. A spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said reports that the negotiations had collapsed are false.
