US Strikes Iran’s Larak Island, Tehran Vows Retaliation

The United States has struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran vowing to retaliate over the attack.

The US Central Command said its forces carried out a “limited, precise action” against Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces that were preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the strategic waterway.

The strikes on Sunday were the first publicly acknowledged US military action against Iranian positions in more than a month.

Larak Island, located near Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas, sits in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important routes for global oil and commercial shipping.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the attack killed and wounded several Iranian soldiers and civilians, without providing a specific casualty figure.

The IRGC described the attack as an act of aggression and vowed a “response and punishment” against the United States.

Iran subsequently launched a retaliatory missile and drone operation against US military positions in the region.

The IRGC said it targeted the King Hussein and Al Azraq air bases in Jordan, where US forces are stationed.

Jordan said its air defences intercepted eight missiles that entered its airspace.

The US strikes came after American forces said they had recently cleared Iranian sea mines from recognised shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz.

US authorities said the Iranian launchers posed an imminent threat to shipping through the waterway and that the operation was intended to prevent the deployment of additional mines.

The renewed exchange of fire marks a fresh escalation between Washington and Tehran after weeks of relative calm and increasing US economic pressure on Iran.

The Strait of Hormuz remains strategically important because a significant share of global oil supplies passes through the waterway.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump posted a video appearing to show Iran’s Kharg Island being destroyed and said the island was being “blown to smithereens”.

However, there was no independent confirmation that Kharg Island had been attacked, and Reuters reported that the video was AI-generated.

Kharg Island is Iran’s main oil export hub, making any confirmed US attack on the facility potentially far more significant for Iran’s economy and global energy markets.