Trade strikes between the US and Iran for the first time in weeks

After US forces hit two rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran and the US exchanged strikes. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) pledged “response and punishment” in response to the first reported US strikes on Iran since late July, which resulted in two fatalities and two injuries.

According to a spokesperson for US Central Command (Centcom), it conducted “limited, precise action” after seeing Iran getting ready to “launch rockets and deploy sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.” In retaliation, Iran claimed to have attacked US military installations in Jordan; Jordan’s army claimed to have intercepted eight missiles early on Monday morning.

The rumours that Al-Minhad Air Base had been targeted, however, were refuted as “unfounded” by the UAE’s Ministry of Defence. The UAE acknowledged that it had shot down a drone. Since President Donald Trump halted a resumed military campaign in late July, the US strike is the first acknowledged attack on Iran.

Larak Island is located directly on the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for international trade, close offshore from the important port of Bandar Abbas. Before the conflict, about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed through. The strait has essentially been closed since the fighting started in February, which has led to huge swings in the price of oil on global markets.

Iranian media reported that the IRGC attacked US bases in Jordan following the Larak Island strike, which was condemned by Iran as American military aggression. President Masoud Pezeshkian emphasized a decisive response to aggression, asserting Iran’s non-warlike stance.

In retaliation for US and Israeli strikes, Iran targeted Israel and US bases, disrupting navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which lies within Iranian and Omani territory. President Trump claimed the mines set by Iran in the Strait had been dealt with, a statement dismissed as propaganda by Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.

Following Washington’s announcement on August 24 of a new sanctions campaign intended to further isolate Tehran and increase secondary sanctions against its allies, Iran is now under increased economic pressure.

The effort has mostly been written off by Iranian officials and state media as an extension of earlier US economic actions, which they claim came after Washington’s military defeat in the recent fight. Iran’s capacity to export oil has been impacted by the US’s ongoing naval blockade of the country. As part of the blockade, Centcom reported on Saturday that it had redirected 82 vessels, boarded two, and disabled three.