U.S. Military Strikes Iran’s Qeshm Island in What U.S. Officials Call a Defensive Measure

The action was limited, the officials said, with no immediate plans to escalate. The strikes come on the eve of the midterm elections.

By Helene CooperTyler Pager and Jonathan Swan

The U.S. military struck Iran’s Qeshm Island on Monday in what American officials described as a small-scale defensive measure against Iranians accused of planning missile strikes against U.S. assets.

The U.S. strikes were limited, the officials said, adding that there are no immediate plans to escalate. Yet the military action comes on the eve of the midterm elections.

President Trump, meanwhile, has been considering renewed strikes against Iran after the elections.

But the president, who has changed his mind several times on how to conduct the war, said earlier Monday on social media that an agreement with Iran “could happen.” His multiple about-faces on Iran have left many in his own administration and government uncertain as to what his next steps will be.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Mr. Trump said on Monday night that “this isn’t a war” with Iran.

“But this isn’t like a war that’s going on,” he said. “There’s no war raging. It could happen if they don’t make a deal, but they want to make a deal very badly, and there’s a very good chance we make a deal.”

Vice President JD Vance said on Monday that the U.S. and Iran have made some “progress” and that both he and Mr. Trump felt “pretty good” about the possibilities for an agreement.

Monday’s strike on Qeshm Island, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, was similar to other small-scale strikes that the United States has conducted against Iran over the past few weeks, one U.S. official said. He said the strikes are meant to stop Iran from attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Previous strikes, another official said, have hit empty cruise missile launchers. The second official said that Monday’s strike came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps shot down an American drone, and shot at, but missed, two American fighter jets flying over the Strait of Hormuz.

Even if only limited and defensive, these  U.S. attacks over the past few weeks, which neither Iran nor the United States publicly acknowledged, marked the first American bombing of targets inside Iran since two days of strikes at the beginning of September.

The United States also destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers in early September in retaliation for Iran launching missiles at — and missing — two American warships in the Arabian Sea.

Erica L. Green contributed.

Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.

Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.

Jonathan Swan is a White House reporter for The Times, covering the administration of Donald J. Trump. Contact him securely on Signal: @jonathan.941