WASHINGTON — The United States has carried out defensive strikes on some Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Monday, on the eve of the midterm elections. Iranian state television reported explosions on Qeshm Island. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the targets were Iranians “using surface to air missiles against U.S. assets.”
The strikes appeared to be limited rather than a return to full hostilities. They followed President Donald Trump’s earlier statement that the U.S. would not launch new strikes on Iran before Tuesday’s elections. The Wall Street Journal reported them first. The Trump administration was last known to have carried out attacks in early September, but thousands of U.S. troops remain in the waters off Iran to keep a naval blockade on tankers carrying Iranian oil, and a third aircraft carrier and more troops are on their way.
Diplomacy is under way at the same time. Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, last week, and said Monday that he and the president feel “pretty good about the prospects for potentially coming to a negotiated settlement.” Rezaei called the new tone “a very good sign.” Two regional officials said Qatari mediators held two rounds of talks last week on a framework under which Iran would stop attacks in the strait in return for the U.S. lifting its blockade of Iranian ports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed for another wave of strikes after the U.S. elections, according to officials, while other U.S. allies in the region are warning that escalation would destabilize the area. The AP reported that the war is more than eight months old and has cost U.S. taxpayers at least $47 billion. Trump said Monday, “I don’t know if you even call it a war, because we haven’t been doing any fighting for months.”
October saw the most attacks on commercial ships in the strait since March. At a security summit in Bahrain, a UAE adviser said that if the U.S. and Iranian positions are not bridged, “we have to worry about the worst.” The war and its effect on gasoline prices have been a political vulnerability for Republicans as they try to keep control of Congress, the AP wrote.