Iran retaliated against US forces on Sunday after the US military struck Iranian rocket launchers at Larak Island, in a bid to control the Strait of Hormuz marking the first escalation between the sides in over a month.
The attacks came after the US military struck Iran’s Larak Island, where it observed Iranian forces preparing to launch rockets with mines into the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran says it launched missiles at two US bases in Jordan following a US attack on Larak Island in southern Iran earlier on Sunday.
In a statement reported by Iranian news agencies on Sunday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, said the combined missile and drone operation, which it called “Punishment of the Aggressor”, hit the King Hussein and Al Azraq bases in Jordan.
The exchange of attacks is the first flare-up in violence between the two sides since late July.
The IRGC said the strikes “destroyed the technical and repair infrastructure, as well as the enemy fighter deployment sites”, inflicting significant damage.
Jordan reported intercepting eight missiles soon after the IRGC announced the attack.
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“Air defence systems intercepted eight missiles that breached the Kingdom’s airspace at dawn today, Monday,” the Jordanian military said in a statement.
No injuries were reported at either base.
In a further development on Monday, the IRGC said it shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Fars and Mehr news agencies cited a statement from the IRGC that said that its air defences had intercepted “a long-range American MQ9 drone” over the Strait of Hormuz, which then fell into the Gulf.
In his first comments since the US attack on Iran’s Larak Island, President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Tehran was “not looking for war”, but would “never sit still in the face of any aggression” either.
Pezeshkian made the comments as he was leaving for Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, to attend the summit of the heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation countries.
Tehran has promised to retaliate for Sunday’s US attack on Larak Island.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video on his Truth Social platform on Monday, seemingly depicting the bombing of Iran’s Kharg Island.
“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT,” the post reads.
There was no other evidence that the Iranian energy hub was under attack.
Before the war started, Kharg Island handled the majority of Iran’s oil exports, making it a vital economic node.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to seize or destroy the island since the start of the war.
The strikes risk renewing the military confrontation as Washington shifts from its bombing campaign to a financial pressure strategy on Tehran, and as the US-Israel war on Iran enters its seventh month.
On Monday, the US military denied that its Sunday attacks were an “act of aggression”.
US Central Command said on X that the US took “limited, precise action” to prevent Iranian forces from laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz and blamed Iran for the attacks.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed in a recent statement that strikes by U.S. forces to prevent the IRGC from placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz were an “act of aggression.” This claim is absolutely FALSE.
Al Jazeera
