U.S. strikes Iranian targets including Qeshm Island; Trump calls it a “minor attack”

U.S. forces struck Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz, including Qeshm Island, on Monday, Nov. 2, U.S. officials told Reuters and Fox News.¹² The Associated Press and WBUR's Here & Now also reported strikes near the strait; AP said Iranian state media reported explosions on Qeshm and Hengam and around Bandar Abbas.³⁴ President Donald Trump said in a Fox News interview on Tuesday, Nov. 3, “We took some out last night. It's just a minor attack. It wasn't war.”² He described an anti-aircraft facility: “We watched it get built, as soon as it was completed, we hit it last night very nicely.”²

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Central Command has a plan ready to attack Iran as early as Wednesday, Nov. 4, according to The Times of Israel and The New Arab.⁵⁶ Neither account says Trump has decided or carries comment from the White House or the Pentagon.

Central Command issued no statement and did not immediately respond to questions, Stars and Stripes reported.⁷ The Pentagon sent questions to the command, which did not reply, according to Reuters.¹

An unnamed U.S. official told AP the strikes were aimed at Iranians firing surface-to-air missiles at U.S. forces in the strait.³ An official told Fox News the strike was “defensive,” followed Iranian fire at a U.S. aircraft and “does not indicate a return to U.S. military strikes on Iran or the beginning of an escalation.”² AP said the last known U.S. attacks were in early September; Reuters, citing The Wall Street Journal, described these as the latest in a series in recent weeks.³¹

Iran's response

Iranian state television on Tuesday quoted Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator, as saying, “The ball is now in America's court to prevent war,” AP reported.³ Euronews reported that he warned any U.S. strategic error would open “a new battlefield in the war,” and that no Iranian official had formally confirmed a direct attack on the island.⁸ Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tuesday, “We are still in a state of war,” according to Fox News.²

The talks

Vice President JD Vance told reporters Monday, “The president and I both feel pretty good about the prospects for potentially coming to a negotiated settlement,” adding, “We've certainly made some progress.”⁹ Asked by reporters earlier whether he was considering a strike after the elections, Trump said “no,” Al Jazeera reported.¹⁰ AP, citing two regional officials and a third person, reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed Trump in a weekend call for more strikes after the elections.³

Aid to Israel

In the Fox interview, Trump said of aid to Israel, “We were giving them $4 billion – we are – but it gets cut off at the end of the year.” He said of Netanyahu, “He brought it up,” and “we reached an agreement on that.”² The Jerusalem Post reported the Israeli government had not confirmed the timeline.¹¹ Netanyahu's office had no immediate comment, The Times of Israel reported.¹² JTA said the current memorandum provides $3.8 billion a year through 2028.¹³

What the records do not show

• No War Powers notice on these strikes was found; a search returned only coverage of earlier notices, not opened.
• Central Command's release listing showed nothing newer than June 11, though a Sept. 1 strike release opened separately is not on it, so the listing is out of date.¹⁴¹⁵ The War Department's releases page returned no list. The White House statements page, headlines only, listed nothing on Iran or Israel aid dated Nov. 2 or 3.¹⁶
• No casualty figure or damage assessment appears in anything opened. Fox's account does not have Trump naming Qeshm; no transcript was opened.
• The New York Times and Journal reports were not opened. NBC's and The Washington Post's pages could not be opened.
• No document shows how or whether aid to Israel would end.