American forces targeted Qeshm Island for the second time this week to prevent an alleged “immediate” drone threat
The US Department of War has said it shot down several Iranian drones over the Strait of Hormuz and carried out strikes against Iran’s coastal installations to prevent a further threat.
American forces intercepted “four Iranian one-way attack drones” launched toward the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command said on X on Friday, claiming the drones posed “an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic.”
“US forces subsequently struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island to defend against further attacks,” CENTCOM said. It added that American forces remain “postured to respond to unjustified Iranian aggression in self-defense.”
Qeshm Island lies in the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s southern coast, near the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Shipping through the crucial oil and gas maritime artery has effectively been blocked since the US-Israeli attack, with Iran threatening US-linked vessels and Washington targeting Iranian-linked shipping.
Iran has not immediately commented on or retaliated for the latest US strikes on the island, which was already targeted in a separate exchange of fire earlier this week.
On Tuesday, a US warplane fired a Hellfire missile at an Iranian-linked tanker to enforce its unilaterally imposed blockade. In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted an alleged US-affiliated vessel.
US forces then escalated with a strike on Qeshm, which CENTCOM described as “self-defense strikes on an Iranian military ground control station.” The IRGC then retaliated with ballistic missile strikes on US military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain, but the US insisted all projectiles were either intercepted or fell short of their targets.
The escalation has further strained a fragile ceasefire reached in April after more than a month of hostilities triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Washington and Tehran have been negotiating a memorandum of understanding intended to extend the truce and restart talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the ceasefire with Iran remained in effect despite the latest exchanges. “It’s a different part of the world,” Trump told reporters. “I’d say in that part of the world, ceasefire is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner.”
