Iran has launched retaliatory strikes on airbases in Jordan after the United States attacked Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz, the first such strikes in a month.
“I can confirm that earlier today US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak island,” a US official said on Sunday. “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the strait of Hormuz.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said the US attack killed and wounded several soldiers and citizens and would be met with “punishment” from Tehran, Iranian state media reported.
In response, the IRGC “targeted technical infrastructure, maintenance facilities, and enemy fighter jet positions at the US-operated King Hussein and al-Azraq airbases in Jordan” with ballistic missiles, causing “heavy damage”, according to state TV.
A spokesperson said the US would pay for its attack economically and militarily, according to the semi-official news agency Fars.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the US attack was a drone strike. The IRGC later said its air defences had shot down a US mq-9 drone over the strait, causing it to crash into Gulf waters, according to the Mehr news agency.
On Sunday night, Reuters reported a US source as saying that all incoming missiles on US forces in Jordan had been intercepted with no significant impact so far.
Hours after the attacks, US president Donald Trump claimed in a social media post that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg island was being “blown to smithereens” but gave no further details.
The White House and the US defense department did not immediately respond to requests for comment and there was no immediate response from Iran about the Kharg island claim.
Attacking Kharg, which handled 90% of Iran’s oil exports before the war, would severely disrupt the Islamic republic’s energy trade and put huge pressure on its economy.
The US said its earlier attacks on Larak island were aimed at preventing Iran from launching more sea mines into the strait.
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 would 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.
Diplomatic efforts, spearheaded by mediators including Pakistan and Qatar, have tried for months to bring an end to the war to no avail.
While a ceasefire was agreed in April and a memorandum of understanding towards a final peace deal was signed in June, no agreement has been forthcoming and Washington has since declared “economic warfare” against Tehran.
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, London,
with additional reports from Reuters & AFP