MIDDLE EAST — Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on November 2 that five explosions were heard in rapid succession on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz, with some residents saying they observed two aircraft overhead. Local and provincial authorities had not issued a statement identifying the cause.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force claimed the same day that electronic-warfare systems brought down two U.S. MQM-170 reconnaissance drones south of Qeshm Island and that the aircraft were captured intact, bringing the claimed total of that type seized to four.
Separate IRGC statements claimed the destruction of a U.S. MQ-9 drone east of the Strait of Hormuz. Circulating reports attribute limited U.S. strikes on the island to unnamed officials, but no public release or statement from U.S. Central Command or the Department of Defense confirms any U.S. kinetic action on Qeshm Island on that date.
Locations Affected
Qeshm Island sits at the northern entrance to the Strait of Hormuz in Iran’s Hormozgan Province. U.S. Central Command previously confirmed self-defense strikes on Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites on the island on June 5 after Iran launched ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones.
