Aerial view of Iran’s coastline and Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, December 10, 2023 (Nicolas Economou/Reuters)
UPDATES: US War on Iran, Day 249 — Trump Camp Threatens Attacks on November 4
UPDATE 0629 GMT:
Iran has executed two more participants in January’s nationwide protests.
Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi were sentenced to death on allegations that they killed four police officers in Isfahan in central Iran on January 8.
Alongside China as the world’s leading executioner per capita, Iran has hanged scores of people involved in January’s demonstrations over political and economic conditions. Iranian forces killed thousands of protesters during the unrest.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: In its first reported strikes since early September, the US military has attacked Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian State media reported several explosions. An American official framed the assault as “defensive” with the targeting of “Iranians using surface-to-air missiles against US assets”.
Officials said the US has carried out small-scale strikes for several weeks. Some said they seek to prevent Iran from having the freedom to attack commercial ships in the Strait.
The assaults were purposefully kept secret, so there was no signal of intent for a major military campaign, the officials explained.
They claimed that on Monday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched a surface-to-air missile at a US fighter jet, which fired back in self-defense. American forces intercepted a Guards missile launched from Qeshm on commercial shipping.
The Trump Administration has sent out conflicting signals in recent days about the renewal of widespread attacks. Donald Trump and other officials have pointed to a campaign after Tuesday’s US midterm elections.
However, Vice President J.D. Vance has sent a message to Iran proposing a resumption of talks. Iranian officials spent three days with Qatari mediators in Doha over the weekend, and the Qatari officials will continue the discussions in Tehran on Tuesday.
On Monday, Trump backed away from a return to widespread strikes. He told journalists, “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.”
