US strikes Iranian launchers on Larak island amid strait of Hormuz tensions

US forces have struck two Iranian launchers on Iran’s Larak island on Sunday, a US official said, marking the ⁠first known American strikes since late July.

“I can confirm that earlier today US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak island. Islamic ⁠Revolutionary Guards Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the strait of Hormuz,” the official said.

Iran’s ⁠Revolutionary Guards said the attack killed and wounded several soldiers and citizens and would be met with a “response ‌and punishment” from ‌Tehran, Iranian state media reported.

A spokesperson said the US would pay for the attack on both economic and military fronts, according to the semi-official news agency Fars.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the US had carried out ‌a drone strike on the island.

US president Donald Trump said last week that all mines had been detonated or removed from the international waters of the strait of Hormuz and Iran had been told that any ship or boat placing new mines will be destroyed.

The last known ‌US strikes on Iran were in late July and the war has reached a stalemate in recent weeks, with Washington threatening to impose costly sanctions on countries that support Iran.

The US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February and Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases. The Iran war has now ⁠crossed its six-month mark.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions. Eighteen US service members have been killed in the conflict.

The war has led to the ‌blockade of the strait of Hormuz, which before the conflict accounted for the transit of about a fifth of the world’s oil barrels consumed.

The Guardian wp:paragraph