The US has launched strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, US officials have told CBS, the BBC’s US partner.
The officials described the strikes as limited and said they were in response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) firing on a US aircraft.
Iranian state news agency Irna reported several explosions on Qeshm on Monday. The IRGC did not comment, but said its forces had shot down two US MQM-170 reconnaissance drones south of the island as well as a US MQ-9 drone over an area east of the Strait of Hormuz.
The BBC has contacted US Central Command (Centcom) for comment on the strikes, which came ahead of the US midterm elections.
Trump has been facing falling polling numbers and pressure from within his Republican Party to end the war, which began when the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
Earlier on Monday, he told reporters that he was in “no rush” to ramp up strikes on Iran.
“One way or the other, we will do something, but there is no rush. We crippled them financially,” he told news outlet Axios. “They have no money, no gasoline and their people are getting very tired of it.”
He also said the US “might need to go after Pickaxe [Mountain]”, an underground site linked to Iran’s nuclear programme, in an interview with Fox News on the eve of the midterms.
This was “not a big deal” and could be done in “one hour”, Trump added.
There has been mounting speculation in the last few days that the US may resume significant strikes in Iran again after the midterms. But asked by a reporter on Monday if that was the case, Trump said “no”.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press cited two regional officials as saying that, during a weekend phone call, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pushed Trump for another wave of strikes on Iran following the midterms.
