President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that United States forces carried out limited strikes on an Iranian air defence system on Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, even as he said negotiations with Tehran were making progress.

Speaking to reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, Mr Trump described the operation as minor. "We do minor strikes," he said. "They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five."

Explosions reported on the island

Iranian state media reported two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm Island, which sits at the mouth of the Gulf on one of the world's most important oil shipping routes. The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that two missiles had struck the island, while the official IRNA news agency cited local witnesses who said they heard aircraft overhead before the projectiles fell.

Iran's state broadcaster IRIB carried an army statement saying Iranian air defence forces had intercepted and destroyed an American MQ-9 drone over the island. That claim has not been independently confirmed, and there has been no official Iranian damage assessment or confirmed casualty figures. US Central Command, asked about the reports, said the situation on the island was "relatively calm" and offered no further comment.

First strikes since the midterms

The strikes were the first reported since Tuesday's US midterm elections, in which Mr Trump's Republican Party lost control of Congress. They follow earlier US strikes on Qeshm Island on 2 and 3 November, which American officials described as defensive actions against threats to US military assets in the Strait of Hormuz.

The confrontation has disrupted shipping through the strait for months. An explosion aboard the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker MT Velos Sapphire in the Gulf on 5 November killed one seafarer, though the cause has not been confirmed. Oil prices have swung sharply with the tensions: Brent crude fell about 9 per cent on Wednesday, then spiked nearly 4 per cent on Thursday after fresh tanker attacks in the Gulf.

Talks continue alongside the strikes

Mr Trump told reporters that his administration was talking to representatives from Tehran and had made "a lot of progress", though he gave no details of the negotiations. Qatar has urged both sides to reach a peace deal, and US Central Command announced on Friday that Washington was offering a reward of up to $20 million for information about Iran's nuclear programme.

Mr Trump, who chaired a National Security Council meeting on Iran on Wednesday, has said a decision on further military action would come soon. For now, the pattern is one of limited strikes running alongside diplomacy, with the Strait of Hormuz — through which a large share of the world's seaborne oil passes — remaining the flashpoint to watch.