Trump confirms fresh US strikes on Iran's Qeshm island amid claims of progress in talks

• Trump confirms US strikes on Iranian air defence systems on Qeshm island in the Strait of Hormuz.

• Tehran says it intercepted and destroyed a US MQ-9 drone over the island.

• Trump claims progress in negotiations with Iran as Qatar says mediation efforts remain active.

The US president says American forces carried out limited strikes on Iranian air defence systems as Qatar continues mediation efforts to prevent further escalation.

Washington, 7 November: US President Donald Trump has confirmed fresh American military strikes on Iran's Qeshm island in the Strait of Hormuz, while claiming that Washington has made “a lot of progress” in negotiations with Tehran.

Trump said on Friday that US forces had carried out “minor strikes” against Iranian air defence systems on the island.

“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 told reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida.

His remarks came shortly after Iranian state media reported two missile strikes in the Suza area of Qeshm island, a strategically important location near the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for global oil shipments.

Iran's state broadcaster IRIB also reported that the country's air defence forces had intercepted and destroyed an American MQ-9 drone over the island.

Responding to reports of explosions on Qeshm, the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said the situation was “relatively calm”. A CENTCOM official told Al Jazeera that it was aware of the reports but declined to comment further.

In a post on X late Friday, CENTCOM also announced a reward of up to $20 million, along with possible relocation, for information about Iran's nuclear programme, including its facilities, equipment, personnel and the movement of related assets.

Trump claims progress in negotiations

Trump said his administration was in contact with Iranian representatives and claimed Tehran wanted an agreement.

“We're dealing with them now. They want to make a deal,” he said.

“We've made a lot of progress with Iran,” he added, without providing details.

On Saturday, Qatar rejected reports that negotiations between Washington and Tehran had failed, saying such claims benefited only those seeking to prolong the conflict.

“Promoting such false claims serves only those seeking to prolong the war and destabilise the region,” Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar's foreign ministry, said in a post on X.

Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said on Friday that mediation efforts remained active to prevent a wider regional escalation.

He said Qatar had been working with officials in the US administration over the past few weeks to contain the situation and de-escalate tensions. He added that efforts, including engagement with what he described as “wise voices in Tehran”, had helped prevent the crisis from spiralling out of control.

Strikes follow Republican setback in midterm elections

Friday's strikes were the first since Trump's Republican Party suffered losses in Tuesday's US midterm elections. Trump has blamed the Iran war for the electoral setback.

Since the polls, the US president has alternated between threatening further military action and suggesting that a resolution to the conflict could be close.

On Thursday, he warned that the US might have to “destroy” the rest of Iran, adding that people would “know soon enough” if he decided to act.

Unnamed Pentagon officials and military commanders told The New York Times on Wednesday that thousands of US air and naval personnel, deployed across more than a dozen ships and military bases in the Middle East and the US, were prepared to resume major combat operations against Iran on Trump's orders.

Tehran, meanwhile, has intensified its diplomatic outreach amid the possibility of a renewed US military campaign.