US officials say American forces struck Iran's Qeshm Island near Strait of Hormuz

US forces attacked Iran's Qeshm Island on Monday, according to US officials quoted by The Wall Street Journal. They described it as the latest in a series of limited strikes Washington has carried out against Iran in recent weeks without announcing them ¹. The officials' account has not been publicly confirmed by US Central Command, and there was no Iranian official reaction to this specific strike.

According to a US official cited by Axios reporter Barak Ravid, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired a missile from Qeshm on Monday night at a US aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz. A US fighter jet then destroyed the surface-to-air launcher in what the official called self-defense ². Another account attributed the same description of a jet destroying the launcher to a US official ⁴.

Israeli broadcaster N12 reported that a US strike hit an air defense system on the island, according to a post relaying its report ³. Other accounts, including social media posts and reports attributed to Iranian state media, described several explosions on Qeshm and said radar and missile-launch sites were also targeted. Those details could not be independently verified, and no casualties have been reported.

The Journal's reporting, as summarised by the technology and defense outlet Interesting Engineering, said officials framed the strikes as a defensive response to Iranian missile threats against US assets. They also said the strikes were meant to limit Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping near the strait. The same report said the earlier strikes were kept quiet so the administration would not appear to be returning to large-scale war.

Qeshm sits beside the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil shipments. Interesting Engineering reported that the island hosts an underground missile facility, a naval base and a major desalination plant, and that US forces have struck it during earlier phases of the conflict.

The reported strike comes amid a run of incidents around the Gulf. Explosions were reported on Monday in the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas and in Kermanshah and Omidiyeh. Unconfirmed reports on Sunday said the IRGC had attacked commercial ships in the strait. An Iranian drone was reported to have exploded in Khasab, in Oman's Musandam peninsula, on Saturday.

Public messaging from Washington has struck a different tone. According to Interesting Engineering, President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US had already won its confrontation with Iran and suggested talks could lead to a deal. Vice President JD Vance spoke of progress toward ending hostilities. Iranian officials have said any agreement depends on US concessions, and Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned of retaliation if the conflict resumed.

It remains unclear how many strikes the US has carried out in recent weeks, which sites they hit, and whether anyone was hurt on Qeshm. The account of an Iranian missile being fired at a US aircraft comes only from US officials speaking anonymously.