Μake us preferred on Google WASHINGTON—U.S. forces attacked two Iranian rocket launchers in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, the U.S. Central Command said, marking the first American strike in weeks and heightening the risk of a return to all-out conflict in a region already battered by war.
The command said that the Iranian launchers, which were deployed on Larak Island, were preparing to fire rockets filled with sea mines into the strait when they were struck.
“Last week, Centcom completed clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes,” said Capt. Tim Hawkins, the spokesman for the command. “We simply will not allow Iran to emplace more mines.”
Shortly after the strike, U.S. forces defended against missiles launched at Jordan, according to U.S. military officials. Jordan’s military said it successfully intercepted eight missiles that entered the country’s airspace.
Jordan hosts nearly 4,000 U.S. troops and is an important staging ground for U.S. military operations throughout the Middle East.
The Trump administration has said that it is focusing on stepped up economic sanctions and its maritime blockade to try to compel Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and make concessions on its nuclear program.
The last time the U.S. military confirmed targeting Iran was July 29, shortly before Trump ordered a halt on strikes at the request of Washington’s Gulf allies to give diplomatic talks another chance.
In a social-media post last week, Trump warned Iran that the U.S. would retaliate if Iran tried to place additional mines in the strait. “There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the U.S. strike was “a strategic and fatal error by the Trump administration” and would lead to “severe repercussions,” according to the country’s official news agency.
The Revolutionary Guards said the attack on Larak Island killed and wounded several of its servicemen and Iranian civilians, according to state media. U.S. officials said the rocket launchers that were struck belonged to the Revolutionary Guards.
Larak is a small Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz that has become a key military and shipping-control point for Tehran. The island is used by the Revolutionary Guards to monitor vessel traffic and sits in a strategic position overlooking the waterway, one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the strait have reduced traffic going through it to a trickle. The U.S. imposed a blockade of Iranian ports intending to pressure the regime into reopening the waterway, but Iran has continued to fire on vessels that don’t use the route close to its coast.
On Saturday, a tanker going into the strait close to Oman was struck by a projectile, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations, which is affiliated with the Royal Navy.
The Trump administration has been working to avoid a return to major combat, which could further drain the U.S. inventory of anti-missile interceptors and other weapons.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a new campaign called “Operation Economic Outcast” aimed at isolating the Iranian regime. “If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart,” Bessent told CNBC earlier this month.
Current and former officials have been concerned that Iran will retaliate militarily if the economic measures begin to bite, leading to a broader renewal of the fighting.
Write to Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com , Robbie Gramer at robbie.gramer@wsj.com and Saleh al-Batati at reports@wsj.com
