President Donald Trump said Friday that U.S. forces carried out new limited strikes on Iran, targeting air-defense systems — the first such attack since voters handed Republicans a sweeping midterm defeat days earlier.
Speaking to reporters shortly after arriving in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday evening, Trump described the action as “minor.”
“They knocked out — they built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five,” Trump said, according to Associated Press reporting.
Iranian state media reported the sound of two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm Island, a strategic point along the Strait of Hormuz oil shipping route.
The Associated Press noted that Friday’s strikes are the first since Trump’s Republican Party lost both chambers of Congress on Tuesday. Midterm losses were fueled in part by voter frustration with the administration’s handling of the Iran conflict and with elevated fuel prices tied to the war.
U.S. Central Command also announced late Friday that the United States was offering a reward of up to $20 million — and possible relocation — for information about Iran’s nuclear program, including facilities, equipment, and associated personnel, through the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program.
Earlier Friday, regional officials said Iran was reviewing proposals from chief mediator Qatar aimed at bridging differences with Washington over Tehran’s nuclear program. Trump said mediators’ discussions with Iran continue, while Iranian officials have insisted on conditions including ending the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports, lifting sanctions, and ending hostilities in the region before nuclear talks resume.
The U.S. military had also reported defensive strikes earlier in the week. Explosions were previously reported around Qeshm and nearby areas in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has vacillated in recent days between threatening to “destroy” Iran and suggesting a resolution could be near.
With Democrats set to take control of Congress in January — and already signaling war-powers scrutiny of the Iran conflict — Friday’s strike lands as progressive lawmakers prepare to challenge the administration’s authority to keep expanding the war.