Key takeaways:
- A U.S. official said American forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island, the first known U.S. attack inside Iran since late July.
- U.S. Central Command said IRGC forces were preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iran’s IRGC said several soldiers were killed and wounded, while Tasnim reported two dead and two injured.
US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, a U.S. official said, in the first known American attack inside Iran since late July and a new flashpoint over the Strait of Hormuz.
The launchers were targeted after Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were seen preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines toward the waterway, U.S. Central Command spokesman Cmdr. Tim Hawkins said, according to CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. partner.
“Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into Strait of Hormuz,” Hawkins was quoted as saying.
Iran confirmed the attack and vowed retaliation. The IRGC said the strike by the “American-Zionist enemy” killed and wounded several soldiers. “This act will be responded to by the sons of Islamic Iran and will result in punishment of the aggressor,” the IRGC said in a statement reported by Al Jazeera.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, said the attack was carried out by drones and reported that two people were killed and two others injured. Fars News Agency earlier reported explosions near the island.
IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi called the strike a “strategic and fatal mistake by the Trump regime” and said the “enemy will pay the consequences of this miscalculation in both the economic and military fields.” Al Jazeera rendered the spokesman’s name as Sardar Mohebi and quoted him as saying the United States had made “a strategic and fatal mistake” that would bring consequences “in both the economic and military arenas.”
Larak Island lies just off the key port of Bandar Abbas and sits on the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for global shipping. Before the war began, about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moved through the strait. Iran is currently making tanker traffic pass by Larak Island for checks and reportedly forcing vessels to pay $2 million to cross, the BBC reported.
The strike came after President Donald Trump said last week that all mines placed by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz as part of efforts to blockade the route had been detonated or removed. He said Iran had been warned that any ship or boat deploying new mines would be destroyed. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi described Trump’s claim as “propaganda” deception.
The United States has said it finished clearing all mines from the strait’s main shipping lane earlier this month. Al Jazeera reported that U.S. officials have claimed control over the strategic waterway, saying millions of barrels of oil are moving through under U.S. military protection even as Iran says the strait remains closed. Attacks on ships in Hormuz have been reported almost daily, Al Jazeera said.
The attack follows Washington’s Aug. 24 announcement of a new sanctions campaign aimed at further isolating Tehran and expanding secondary sanctions against its allies. Iranian officials and state media have largely dismissed the effort as a continuation of earlier U.S. economic measures, which they say followed Washington’s military failure in the conflict.
The United States and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Iran responded by attacking Israel, U.S. bases and allied states in the Gulf, and by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz to marine traffic. The conflict has now passed the six-month mark.
Be First to Comment