United States forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, ending a month-long lull in hostilities. In retaliation, Iran fired ballistic missiles at U.S. military bases in Jordan, while the United Arab Emirates intercepted an incoming Iranian drone over its waters.
Strait of Hormuz Strike Shatters Month-Long Lull
Fighting between the United States and Iran resumed overnight in a sharp escalation that broke more than a month of relative quiet across the Middle East. The renewed conflict flared when U.S. forces carried out strikes against two Iranian rocket launchers stationed near Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz according to regional updates.
The U.S. military justified the operation by pointing to imminent danger in the vital international waterway. U.S. Central Command stated that personnel from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps were observed preparing to deploy rockets loaded with sea mines into the shipping lanes. The U.S. military last week completed clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes. President Donald Trump announced last week that U.S. forces had cleared the strait of mines, and warned Iran against putting more in. The operation marked the first known U.S. strike on Iranian territory since late July. The last time the U.S. military confirmed targeting Iran was on July 29, when it announced a heavy wave of strikes on dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets including coastal surveillance and defence sites. On August 1, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would order the military to hold off on new strikes at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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“In essence, Iran created the threat and the US military eliminated it to protect civilian mariners, commercial shipping, and the free flow of global commerce,” U.S. Central Command said late on Sunday.
Officials characterized the intervention as a limited and precise action designed to safeguard commercial vessels. The operation unfolded just days after American forces announced the completion of mine-clearing sweeps along the strait’s international corridors. Semiofficial news outlets in Iran reported sounds of explosions near Larak island in the strait on Sunday. The Guard in a statement carried by Iran’s state broadcaster noted “the martyrdom and injury of several of our fighters and compatriots”. Iranian officials said that two people were killed and several others wounded in the U.S. attack Sunday night on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran Retaliates With Strikes on Jordan and UAE Airspace
Iran responded to the Larak Island operation by launching ballistic missiles toward American military installations in neighboring Jordan. Iranian state television broadcast footage of the launch sequence, identifying the targeted facilities as the King Hussein and Al-Azraq airbases. Jordan’s armed forces said they intercepted eight missiles that penetrated the country’s airspace early on Monday. Jordan’s military said it intercepted at least eight, but some made it through the country’s defenses. Officials did not say where those missiles hit, but said there were no casualties.
Meanwhile, the security situation grew more volatile across the Gulf as the United Arab Emirates reported intercepting an Iranian drone over its territorial waters. The United Arab Emirates said that it intercepted an Iranian drone over its waters Monday, an attack that comes after the United States and Iran exchanged fire over the weekend for the first time in a month. In a short statement earlier, the UAE Defense Ministry said that it “dealt with” an Iranian drone that was detected. The UAE’s defense ministry also denied Iranian media reports that one of its key air bases was targeted by missiles.
In the wake of the renewed violence, Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE’s president, said on social media said “the state of neither war nor peace cannot be a sustainable solution.” He called for a political solution that would return normal navigation to the Strait of Hormuz, but also a “more realistic approach” than the June memo of understanding between Iran and the U.S. which, he said, “failed to outline a practical and acceptable” road map.
Economic Pressures and Global Market Reactions
The sudden return to kinetic military exchanges arrives as Washington pursues a parallel campaign of severe economic pressure. During the lull in fighting, the U.S. has been ratcheting up economic pressure on Iran with the hope of forcing concessions out of Tehran, including reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, Iran established a chokehold on the vital strait, though which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passed in peacetime, slowing ship traffic to a trickle. That has roiled the global economy, raising prices worldwide for energy and other goods.
Global energy markets reacted swiftly to the renewed violence. As the fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed above $90, up about 25% from the start of the war, presenting a growing problem for U.S. President Donald Trump before the midterm elections. A return to open conflict would be dangerous for the region, where Iran has targeted U.S. military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries since the war began.
