Blasts reported on Qeshm and Gulf coast cities as US CENTCOM launches Iron Gate task force
Iranian state media, including the IRNA news agency, reported blasts or explosion-like sounds on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz and in the Gulf coast cities of Jask, Sirik and Bandar Abbas. IRNA has not called the incidents an attack. Al Jazeera said neither Washington nor Tehran had confirmed that strikes occurred at those sites, and that the sounds were being read as Iranian tests, a military exercise or a show of readiness. The surrounding situation is described as extremely delicate: the United States has been attacking Iranian ships, while Iran, directly or indirectly, has been stopping or attacking vessels, a back-and-forth that could ignite a wider war.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) says it is launching a new task force, Iron Gate, and expanding a months-long naval blockade of Iranian ports. The command says the operation is meant to stop Tehran from using ground routes to move weapons and to block revenue streams not only across Iran’s land borders but also on the Caspian Sea. Michael Mulroy, a former US deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and former CIA paramilitary operations officer, told Al Jazeera that Iron Gate, working with the CIA and other intelligence agencies, is meant to extend Washington’s economic “strangulation strategy” by identifying where weapons systems enter, how those routes can be cut, and how Tehran moves energy overland. He described the task force as a “combatant command” preparing for possible escalation. If President Donald Trump orders a further step, Mulroy said the likely targets would be economic and infrastructure sites rather than the mainly military focus of Operation Epic Fury, so as to weaken the regime’s ability to fight and to fund itself.
On Saturday, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan spoke by phone with Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani — their second reported call in a week. In a post on X on November 7, 2026, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said the ministers also discussed efforts to de-escalate tensions and to enhance security and stability.
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