US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, hitting a site just offshore from Bandar Abbas and on the Strait of Hormuz. A US official said it was the first known American attack in Iran since late July.
Strait of Hormuz pressure
Cdr Tim Hawkins, the US Central Command spokesman, said IRGC forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. The location gave the strike immediate weight: Iran is making tanker traffic pass by Larak Island for checking, and the island sits on a waterway that carried about 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas before the war began.
That route also sits at the center of a larger pattern. On 28 February, the US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran, and on 24 August Washington announced a fresh sanctions campaign aimed at further isolating Tehran and expanding secondary sanctions against its allies.
IRGC response on Sunday
The IRGC said the attack on Sunday killed and wounded several people. Hossein Mohebbi called it a strategic and fatal mistake by the Trump regime and said the enemy will pay the consequences of this miscalculation in both the economic and military fields.
Tasnim news agency said the attack was carried out by drones and said two people were killed and two others injured. That account differs from the US version, which described the target as launchers tied to sea mines and a launch preparation inside the Strait of Hormuz zone.
Trump and Gharibabadi
Last week, Donald Trump said all mines placed in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran had been detonated or removed, and he warned that any ship or boat deploying new mines would be destroyed. Kazem Gharibabadi called that claim propaganda.
The sequence leaves the same narrow question in front of both sides: how many people were actually killed or injured on Larak Island, and what response will Iran carry out next. For ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz, the operational picture now turns on whether the IRGC treats Sunday’s strike as a one-off hit or the start of another round.
