Iranian state television on Saturday quoted Ahmad Nafisi, deputy governor of Hormozgan province, as saying a US attack had hit two fishing boats near Qeshm Island, according to AFP. "An attack by the US enemy took place at around 11:30 a.m. (local time) today, targeting 2 fishing boats, each carrying 2 people, near Qeshm Island. Two of them have been taken to Qeshm, while the other 2 remain missing as search and rescue operations are underway," the official said.
Source: AFP via Stockbiz / Thanh Nien (Oct 31, 2026)
Iranian state television later reported that the two missing fishermen had been found. Press TV, citing Ali Eslami Ramchahi, head of Qeshm's fishing community, said the missing pair were a father and his son, that they had been located and were returning to the island, and that one of them had injuries to both legs. Of the two fishermen brought back to Qeshm earlier, one was injured and taken to hospital for treatment, Press TV said.
Source: Press TV (Oct 31, 2026)
What is claimed, and what is not confirmed
Press TV described the incident as a drone attack off a coastal village in Qeshm County. Other Iranian reports carried by regional outlets differed on details — including the distance of the boats from the village and whether one or two fishermen were injured in the first accounts. No independent confirmation of the attack itself had been reported at the time of publication, and AFP reported plainly: the US has not commented on the accusation.
What is solid
- An Iranian provincial official, Ahmad Nafisi, publicly accused the US of attacking two fishing boats near Qeshm at about 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, as reported by AFP
- Iranian outlets later said the two missing fishermen had been found and were returning to Qeshm
- The United States had not commented on the accusation in the reports available at publication
What is only claimed
- Whether US forces carried out the attack — the claim comes from Iranian official and state-affiliated sources only
- How the boats were attacked and the exact injury count, on which Iranian reports differed
A claim made on a day of open threats
The accusation came on the same day Iran's leadership issued its bluntest warnings yet about a possible resumption of the US-Iran war after next week's US midterm elections. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei ordered an immediate, forceful and geographically unrestricted response to any new threat, military spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia warned that renewed US action would spread the war across a wider area, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran's armed forces would respond to anyone who harmed its people. Those statements are reported here as context for the timing of the Qeshm claim, not as evidence for it.
Qeshm sits in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Gulf to the open sea — a route central to global oil and gas shipments and to the livelihoods of fishing communities along Iran's southern coast, as well as to the Gulf region where large numbers of Indian and Punjabi workers live and work. Any confirmed attack on civilian boats there would raise the stakes for shipping and for coastal communities on both sides of the strait; for now, what exists is an Iranian accusation, an American silence, and two fishermen reported found alive.
This story reports an allegation, not a confirmed attack. Every detail of the incident itself comes from Iranian official or state-affiliated sources, as carried by AFP and Iranian outlets. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if the US military or another independent source confirms or disputes the account.