The Qeshm Strike Was Not the First. U.S. Officials Say Limited Strikes on Iran Have Gone Unannounced for Weeks, Even as Trump Says the Fighting Stopped Months Ago

The United States carried out defensive airstrikes on Iran's Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, two U.S. officials told ABC News, in an attack first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

One official said the strikes responded to an Iranian attack on a U.S. aircraft, ABC reported. A U.S. official told MS Now, as cited by CNBC, that the strikes were 'a defensive measure' in response to 'Iranians using surface to air missiles against US assets.' Iran International, citing Axios, reported that U.S. forces destroyed an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps surface-to-air missile launcher.

U.S. Central Command did not respond to ABC News' requests for comment.

<h3>A pattern, not a single strike</h3>

The most significant detail in Monday's reporting is what officials said about the weeks before it. The strikes 'do not signal the resumption of major combat operations against Iran, but were the latest limited strike carried out by U.S. forces in recent weeks,' an official told ABC. Unlike earlier strikes, those in recent weeks 'had not been publicized to prevent any signaling that the strikes were part of the resumption of major combat operations,' the official said.

The Wall Street Journal reported the same, according to CNBC and The Guardian: that Washington has been carrying out limited strikes against Iran for several weeks without announcing them. In recent weeks, Iran has increased attacks on commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, ABC reported.

That account sits uneasily with the president's own description. 'We had a war with Iran. We won,' Trump told reporters, according to The Guardian. 'I don't know if you even call it a war because we haven't been doing any fighting for months.' Last month, CNBC reported, Trump said the U.S. would not attack Iran before the midterm elections, after polls showed support for the war had fallen to 31 percent.

<h3>Competing claims</h3>

Earlier Monday, Iran claimed it had shot down two U.S. reconnaissance drones south of Qeshm, a claim a U.S. official told ABC was false. Neither side has published evidence supporting its account in the reporting reviewed. No casualty figures or damage assessment from the strikes have been released.

Qeshm, off Iran's southern coast, is the largest island in the Persian Gulf and has emerged as a potential U.S. target amid reports that anti-ship missiles, mines, drones and attack craft are kept there in underground tunnels, CNBC reported. Euronews reported that Iran warned of a 'new battlefield' after the strikes.

<h3>Diplomacy on the same day</h3>

The strikes came as Vice President JD Vance spoke optimistically about talks. 'The president and I both feel really good about the prospect of potentially coming to a negotiated settlement,' Vance told CNN on Monday, according to CNBC. He added that the Iranians are 'unpredictable,' that Trump retains 'kinetic and non-kinetic' options, and that Washington has set no deadline for a deal.

Qatari mediators reportedly traveled to Tehran on Monday night to discuss a version of a draft U.S.-Iran agreement that has been under negotiation for eight days, CNBC reported. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday that Tehran would respond to U.S. aggression forcefully, that the two sides remained far from a deal and that 'Tehran's conditions must be met if the US wants Hormuz reopened,' according to CNBC. Al Jazeera reported that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signaled continued diplomacy.

Trump said in a Fox News interview Monday night that the U.S. had to take a 'little detour' to Iran to stop it from obtaining nuclear weapons and that 'we might have to go after Pickaxe,' a site south of the Natanz enrichment plant that houses an underground facility, adding, 'that's not a big deal,' according to CNBC. Iran denies the site houses nuclear infrastructure, Euronews has reported.

On Nov. 1, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump would like to resolve the war 'diplomatically' and prefers not to use military force, CNBC reported.

<h3>What is not known</h3>

Officials have not said publicly what else was hit on Qeshm, how many unannounced strikes have occurred in recent weeks, or whether any U.S. aircraft were damaged. 'Defensive' is the officials' characterization. Until Central Command or the Pentagon addresses Monday's operation on the record, the public account rests on anonymous officials and Iranian state-aligned media.