--- title: "On Qeshm, the bombs Washington calls defensive fall on the eve of the midterms" description: "US officials call the strikes limited and say they were kept quiet, while Trump says this “isn’t a war” and talks of a deal with Tehran" author: "Jan Sokol" published: 2026-11-03T06:21:41Z modified: 2026-11-03T07:19:06Z url: https://rews.cc/a/blasts-on-qeshm-the-night-before-the-vote-washington-calls-i-8cc88c language: en tags: ["iran", "war", "trump", "hormuz", "oil", "mideast", "world"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # On Qeshm, the bombs Washington calls defensive fall on the eve of the midterms *US officials call the strikes limited and say they were kept quiet, while Trump says this “isn’t a war” and talks of a deal with Tehran* By Jan Sokol · November 3, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/blasts-on-qeshm-the-night-before-the-vote-washington-calls-i-8cc88c ## In brief - Iranian media reported several explosions on Qeshm Island late on 2 November, with blasts also reported near Bandar Lengeh - US officials called the strikes limited and defensive, a response to Iranian surface-to-air fire at a US aircraft - The Wall Street Journal reported that similar strikes had been carried out earlier in secret - Trump said the conflict “isn’t a war” and said the US might strike the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site - Vance and Iran’s foreign ministry both spoke of a possible deal, as China held talks with Iranian and Omani leaders Late on Monday, 2 November, a series of explosions went off on Qeshm Island, the long, low island lying off Iran’s southern coast at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz. That account came from Iran’s state news agency IRNA, [as Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/3/explosions-hit-irans-qeshm-island-as-us-media-report-us-strikes-in-hormuz), and the agency’s witnesses said they had seen two planes over the island. The Fars news agency said residents of nearby Hengam Island and of the port city of Bandar Abbas, about 14 miles away, also heard the blasts, [CNN reported](https://cnn.com/2026/11/02/politics/us-strikes-iran-qeshm-island). Fars also reported explosions at the port of Bandar Lengeh and said they seemed to come from offshore, [according to The Independent](https://independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-strikes-iran-qeshm-island-trump-strait-hormuz-b3078007.html). Iranian state media [put the count at five](https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/us-conducted-defensive-strikes-iranian-targets-strait-hormuz-us-offici-rcna607161), NBC News said. In Washington the clock showed a different night: the eve of the midterm elections. ## A modest word Three US officials told CNN that the military had carried out limited strikes on the island. They called them defensive, meant to protect American assets in the region. One said the attack answered Iranian fire at a US aircraft. Another said: > This was a defensive measure for Iranians using surface to air missiles against US assets. The Hill reported that the targets were [radar detectors and missile launchers](https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6190947-us-strikes-iranian-radar-missiles/) on Qeshm. The National reported that the missile in question had been fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at an American aircraft over the strait, and that Iranian media had published images [purportedly showing the downing of a US MQ-9 Reaper drone](https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/us/2026/11/03/us-strike-qeshm-iran-hormuz/). A US official told the Associated Press that this was a limited action and not a return to full hostilities. ![A large metal shield hangs above a ship sailing through a narrow waterway between pale mountains, beneath the shadow of a military aircraft.](https://rews.cc/img/5bd1ec4901c3c9e6d0f0604b1375092f567285f8.webp) The Wall Street Journal broke the story. It also reported that other strikes of this kind had already been carried out in secret. One official told the paper that the operation was kept low-profile on purpose, so that it would not look like the start of large-scale operations again. A person familiar with the matter told CNN the administration had kept the attack quiet so as not to overstate a defensive move. US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Here is a reflection, not a finding. Modern power keeps a vocabulary for this kind of night. A bombing is a “measure” and a raid is “limited”. When it happens in secret, that is described as restraint. The officials did not ask whether the explosions occurred. They asked whether anyone should notice. ## A very soft war Earlier in the campaign, Donald Trump had said the United States would not launch new strikes on Iran before the midterms. Asked by reporters whether he was weighing strikes after Tuesday’s vote, he answered “no”. The two countries have been at war since 28 February. On Monday the president gave his own account of it: “We had a war with Iran. We won. I don’t know if you even call it a war because we haven’t been doing any fighting for months.” In a Fox News interview broadcast that night he did not address the Qeshm reports. He did return to the theme: “We’re not fighting a war. Everyone says ‘you’re at war!’ Well, when was the last time we fired anything? This isn’t a war — it’s a very soft war … 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.” ![A large rusty padlock and heavy chains frame a cargo ship at sea, with a military drone overhead against an orange background.](https://rews.cc/img/068a0c16f35efff223d5dfaaaac4a3334877a9db.webp) In the same interview he said the US “might have to go after” Pickaxe Mountain, the suspected underground nuclear site where Israel believes Tehran has stored part of its enriched uranium stockpile and advanced centrifuges. “That’s not a big deal. We can do it in literally, we can do that in one hour,” he said. In July he had said it would be hit “probably pretty soon.” Oil was the other measure of the war. On Truth Social the president wrote that prices were “dropping like a rock, down almost $10 a Barrel, a record, because people feel that there will not be a War with Iran.” Speaking at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, he said a deal “looks like that’s coming together very nicely,” [Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/2/iran-pushing-accelerated-plan-for-ceasefire-talks-with-us), and added: “That’s why I guess the oil prices dropped.” After news of the strike broke, oil rose in early Asian trading on Tuesday. Gasoline and diesel were still on course to be the most expensive of any US Election Day on record. ## The ball and the court Vice President JD Vance spoke the language of the waiting room. “The Iranians are always a little unpredictable, and as the president always says, he retains kinetic options, he retains non-kinetic options. But we’ve certainly made some progress,” he said. He added that he and the president both felt “pretty good” about a negotiated settlement. ![Two hands pull torn paper across the narrow center of a wooden hourglass filled with flowing ocean waves, against a teal background with an orange circle.](https://rews.cc/img/8dda38dc8c80a4c92b2c08e44958c985fb74c832.webp) Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said the ball was “in the US court”. “Our demands have been stated very clearly and transparently, and Iran’s demands are reasonable and logical,” he said. Iran says its offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be carried out within two days if Washington accepts its terms, a plan [that depends on concessions the US has not confirmed](https://rews.cc/a/iran-s-two-day-hormuz-plan-depends-on-five-us-concessions-wa-208f25). The Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, warned on Saturday that any major new attack would bring a response “without geographical limitations”. A senior security official in Tehran told CNN that Iran would try to hit infrastructure beyond oil facilities, AI among it. Far from the strait, Beijing has taken up the war’s diplomacy again after a quiet spell, [Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/2/china-steps-up-middle-east-diplomacy-with-iran-and-oman-meetings). On Monday Foreign Minister Wang Yi met a senior Iranian security official in the Chinese capital, and China called for dialogue. On the same day President Xi Jinping hosted Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, the first state visit by an Omani head of state since 1978. ## The island Qeshm is no stranger to these nights. US forces have struck it several times in this war. It holds a large underground missile facility, a naval base and a major water desalination plant, and US officials have talked in the past about seizing it. From the island Iran tries to control traffic through a waterway that carried about 20 million barrels of oil a day before the war. Iran has [already threatened to fire on American warships](https://rews.cc/a/iran-says-it-will-fire-on-us-warships-as-trump-weighs-anothe-53264c) there. The water plant and the missiles stand on the same island. On Monday night Washington said it was aiming only at the missiles. It did not intend to say so publicly until a newspaper reported it. ## Sources - [Explosions hit Iran’s Qeshm Island as US media report US strikes in Hormuz](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/3/explosions-hit-irans-qeshm-island-as-us-media-report-us-strikes-in-hormuz) — aljazeera.com - [Trump signals progress on Iran deal as Tehran pushes faster ceasefire](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/2/iran-pushing-accelerated-plan-for-ceasefire-talks-with-us) — aljazeera.com - [China steps up Middle East diplomacy with Iran and Oman meetings](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/2/china-steps-up-middle-east-diplomacy-with-iran-and-oman-meetings) — aljazeera.com - [US strikes Iran with explosions heard on Qeshm Island in Strait of Hormuz](https://independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-strikes-iran-qeshm-island-trump-strait-hormuz-b3078007.html) — independent.co.uk - [US military conducts strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in defensive operation, officials say](https://cnn.com/2026/11/02/politics/us-strikes-iran-qeshm-island) — cnn.com