ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Iranian army said it destroyed an American drone over Qeshm Island, semi-official media reported early Saturday, while US President Donald Trump said US forces had targeted an Iranian anti-aircraft device and “knocked it out.”

“An MQ-9 drone belonging to the hostile, aggressor American forces was struck and destroyed in the skies over Qeshm,” semi-official Mehr news agency reported, citing the army’s public relations department.

When asked by reporters, Trump said, “I don’t want to talk about it. We do minor strikes, but they built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device, and we knocked it out.”

The Iranian army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have recently reported shooting down multiple US drones over Qeshm Island and the Strait of Hormuz. On Friday, the IRGC said it had destroyed a US MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island, describing it as the 16th American drone it had downed.

Located off Iran’s southern coast, Qeshm Island lies along the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important maritime routes, through which a significant share of global oil shipments passes. The waterway has become a major point of tension in the US-Iran conflict, with both countries imposing blockades on maritime traffic and engaging in frequent military activity.

The latest episode comes as Tehran and Washington continue to trade draft peace proposals with one another, with both sides revising potential frameworks for an agreement that are then passed on via mediators.

The IRGC also said Tuesday that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had directed the armed forces at their latest meeting to pursue “maximum deterrence,” describing it as a priority on their agenda and noting the forces' commitment to implementing his directives.