The United States has carried out fresh limited strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island, President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday, 6 November, saying American forces knocked out an Iranian air-defence system in a matter of minutes — even as he insisted Washington was making progress in talks with Tehran.
"We do minor strikes," Trump told reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, shortly after arriving on Air Force One. "They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device, and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five."
Trump spoke shortly after Iranian state media reported two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway through which a large share of the world's seaborne oil passes. Semi-official Iranian outlets reported no casualties from the incident.
Iran gave a different account of the night. State broadcaster IRIB carried an army statement saying Iranian air-defence forces had intercepted and destroyed an American MQ-9 drone over Qeshm Island. That claim has not been independently confirmed, and neither the exact target of the US strike nor the scale of any damage has been independently established. US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, described the situation as "relatively calm".
In a separate move, CENTCOM announced late on Friday that the United States was offering a reward of up to $20 million — along with possible relocation — for information about Iran's nuclear programme, including its facilities, equipment, personnel, or the movement of any of them.
The strikes follow what the US military described as "defensive strikes" earlier in the week, when explosions were heard on Qeshm and Hengam islands and near the mainland port of Bandar Abbas. Friday's action is the first since Tuesday's midterm elections in the United States, in which Trump's Republican Party suffered a sharp setback. Trump said Washington was "doing very well with Iran" and had made "a lot of progress" in the talks, with Qatar continuing efforts to bring the two sides closer to negotiations.
The Gulf remains on edge. A separate explosion aboard the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker MT Velos Sapphire in the Persian Gulf on 5 November killed one seafarer, though the cause has not been confirmed. Trump has said a decision on whether to take further military action against Iran would come soon.
(Sources: Al Jazeera, Associated Press, Gulf News, Business Standard)
---
Urdu version:
امریکہ نے ایران کے جزیرہ قشم پر نئے محدود حملے کیے ہیں، صدر ڈونلڈ ٹرمپ نے جمعہ 6 نومبر کو اس کی تصدیق کر دی۔ ٹرمپ کے مطابق امریکی افواج نے ایرانی فضائی دفاعی نظام کو چند منٹوں میں تباہ کر دیا۔ ٹرمپ نے صحافیوں سے کہا، "ہم چھوٹے حملے کرتے ہیں — انہوں نے ایک چھوٹا سا اینٹی ایئر کرافٹ نظام بنایا تھا، اور ہم نے اسے تقریباً 15 منٹ، شاید پانچ منٹ میں ختم کر دیا۔"
ایرانی سرکاری میڈیا کے مطابق آبنائے ہرمز میں واقع قشم جزیرے کے علاقے سوزا میں دو دھماکے سنے گئے۔ ایرانی فوج کا کہنا ہے کہ اس کے فضائی دفاع نے قشم کے اوپر ایک امریکی MQ-9 ڈرون مار گرایا، تاہم اس دعوے کی آزادانہ تصدیق نہیں ہوئی۔ امریکی سینٹرل کمانڈ (سینٹ کام) نے صورتحال کو "نسبتاً پرسکون" قرار دیا ہے۔
سینٹ کام نے ایران کے جوہری پروگرام کے بارے میں معلومات پر 20 ملین ڈالر تک کے انعام کا بھی اعلان کیا ہے۔ ٹرمپ نے کہا ہے کہ ایران کے ساتھ مذاکرات میں "بہت پیش رفت" ہوئی ہے، اور قطر دونوں فریقوں کو مذاکرات کے قریب لانے کی کوششیں جاری رکھے ہوئے ہے۔
){kind=link}
0 Comments