Photo courtesy of Anadolu
Direct US military action against Iran resumed Sunday with strikes on two launchers on Larak Island, near the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, according to an American official cited by Axios.
The attack was the first reported US strike on Iranian territory since late July, breaking a roughly month-long lull in direct engagements between Washington and Tehran.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said fighters and civilians were killed or injured and vowed a response. The extent of the casualties could not immediately be independently established.
Preliminary information indicated that drones may have been used in the attack, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency. Details on damage to the targeted systems were not immediately available.
The US official said the launchers were allegedly being prepared to deploy rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for global oil shipments. American forces were continuing to monitor the area to protect commercial navigation, the official said.
President Donald Trump had previously warned Tehran against laying additional mines after saying existing mines in the waterway had been cleared. Iranian officials, meanwhile, have maintained that only Tehran knows the locations of mines in the strait.
The latest confrontation follows months of hostilities that began with strikes on Iran in February. A June memorandum of understanding reached through Pakistani and Qatari mediation failed to produce a lasting halt to the conflict, with US bombing and a naval blockade resuming in July amid disputes over navigation.
Whether the Larak Island attack was an isolated strike or signals another extended US military campaign against Iran remained unclear.