The US on Sunday bombed Iran’s Larak Island, a small island off the coast of Bandar Abbas in the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first known US strikes on Iranian territory in more than a month. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) quickly responded to the US attack, launching strikes against US bases in Jordan.
US officials speaking to media outlets claimed the attack targeted two launchers that were preparing to fire rockets equipped with mines into the strait. The IRGC said that the US attacks killed and wounded a number of civilians and soldiers but didn’t provide an exact toll.
The extent of the damage from the Iranian attacks on US facilities in Jordan is unclear at this time. During the last round of tit-for-tat US-Iranian strikes last month, the IRGC was able to cause significant damage to US bases and inflict hundreds of casualties on US troops in the country.
Earlier on Sunday, the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations said that a ship traveling in the strait near Oman was struck by a projectile on Saturday. Ships continue to come under attack despite the US claiming that the strait is open. Iran has said the waterway will not be fully opened until the US ends its blockade of Iranian ports and fulfills other commitments it agreed to under the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed in June.
While the attack on Larak marked the first direct US strike on Iran in over a month, the US has remained in a state of war with Iran as it continues to enforce the blockade, which has involved attacks on commercial ships, and it has also attempted to ramp up the economic war against the Islamic Republic.