US strikes Iran’s Qeshm Island on the eve of the midterms
The U.S. military carried out limited strikes Monday on Iran’s Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials told CBS News and NBC News. The officials described the strikes as defensive and said they were not a resumption of major combat operations.
What we know: A senior U.S. official told CBS News the strikes targeted Qeshm Island after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired at an American aircraft. Another official told NBC News the aim was to take out a missile launcher. Iranian state media reported five explosions on the island, NBC News reported.
Diplomacy: Vice President JD Vance said Monday that he and President Donald Trump “both feel pretty good about the prospects for potentially coming to a negotiated settlement,” NBC News reported. On Tuesday, Iran’s parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said “the ball is now in America’s court to prevent a war.”
The cost: As of mid-October, the war had cost the U.S. military at least $47.1 billion, according to a U.S. Central Command estimate obtained by CBS News.
What comes next: Trump has floated restarting hostilities after the midterms, CBS News reported.