Overview
- U.S. forces destroyed two IRGC rocket launchers on Larak Island, a Sunday strike CENTCOM said targeted systems being readied to fire rockets armed with naval mines into the Strait of Hormuz.
- CENTCOM said its forces had recently completed demining international shipping lanes and are escorting commercial traffic to keep the strait open.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard reported deaths and injuries from the attack and vowed retaliation, raising the risk of further military exchanges across the Gulf.
- The operation is Washington’s first acknowledged kinetic strike on Iranian territory in about a month and underlines that U.S. policy combines naval protection, sanctions, and selective strikes to deter threats to shipping.
- The strike sharpens a domestic split in Tehran between hardliners who favor continued resistance and pragmatists seeking a deal to ease economic collapse, a division that will shape whether the confrontation escalates or returns to negotiation.