The United States has launched limited strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, ahead of the US midterm elections.
US officials told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that the strikes were in response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) firing on a US aircraft.
The officials described the operation as limited and defensive.
Iran’s state news agency, Irna, reported several explosions on Qeshm Island on Monday.
The IRGC did not comment on the reported strikes but said its forces had shot down two US MQM-170 reconnaissance drones south of the island and a US MQ-9 drone east of the Strait of Hormuz.
The BBC has contacted US Central Command (Centcom) for comment.
The strikes came as President Donald Trump faces falling polling numbers and pressure from within his Republican Party to end the war, which began when the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
Earlier on Monday, Trump told reporters he was in “no rush” to ramp up strikes on Iran.
“One way or the other, we will do something, but there is no rush. We crippled them financially,” he told news outlet Axios. “They have no money, no gasoline and their people are getting very tired of it.”
Trump also said the US “might need to go after Pickaxe [Mountain]”, an underground site linked to Iran’s nuclear programme, during an interview with Fox News on the eve of the midterms.
He described the operation as “not a big deal” and said it could be carried out in “one hour”.
There has been mounting speculation in recent days that the US could resume significant strikes on Iran after the midterms.
However, when a reporter asked Trump on Monday whether that was the case, he said “no”.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press cited two regional officials as saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged Trump during a weekend phone call to launch another wave of strikes on Iran after the midterms.
On Tuesday, Iran’s chief negotiator with the US and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said: “The ball is now in America’s court to prevent war.”
“Just as the Islamic Republic of Iran stands ready for battle with its finger on the trigger, it has also given the American side a powerful and rational response,” he said in a televised speech.
It was not immediately clear what Ghalibaf was referring to.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Irna on Monday that “very intensive” talks to end the war were under way with the US through Qatari and Pakistani mediators.
Araghchi also said Iran was prepared for both diplomatic and military scenarios “more than ever before”.
He said it was up to the US to choose between a “wise path” of negotiation or the “mistake of military aggression”.
Last week, Iranian negotiators discussed a proposal with mediators to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days, provided the US met seven conditions.
The reported conditions include lifting a naval blockade of Iranian ports and releasing frozen Iranian assets.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually pass, was effectively closed after the war began because of Iranian missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels and the US naval blockade.
The US and Iran reached a preliminary agreement to end the war and reopen the strait in June.
However, the agreement collapsed within weeks after Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated its blockade.
Iran insisted it would retain some measure of control over the waterway and began targeting vessels using a southern route through Omani waters, avoiding its preferred route through Iranian waters.
To keep exports flowing from Gulf Arab states, the US military has been providing protection for tankers transporting oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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