Overview
- U.S. forces destroyed two rocket launchers on the Iranian island of Larak after observing members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps preparing rockets fitted with naval mines.
- CENTCOM confirmed the strike as Washington’s first acknowledged attack on Iranian territory in about a month and said it acted to stop an imminent minelaying threat to commercial shipping.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the strike killed and wounded fighters and responded with missile and drone attacks on the Al Azraq and King Hussein bases in Jordan, whose air defenses reported intercepting incoming missiles.
- Global oil prices rose and commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz stayed far below normal levels as traders and shippers reacted to the renewed exchange of strikes.
- U.S. officials had completed recent mine-clearance in international shipping lanes and warned they would destroy any vessel that tried to plant new mines, a policy that underpins Washington’s stated readiness to use limited strikes to protect navigation.