Trump posted an AI-generated video of Kharg Island being blown up as US forces and Iranian positions traded strikes in the Strait of Hormuz. The post arrived after direct action on Larak Island and after the IRGC launched retaliatory ballistic missiles toward US bases in Jordan.
US Central Command and Larak Island
US Central Command said the pre-emptive strike targeted IRGC units preparing to deploy sea-mine-armed rockets against commercial shipping routes. US forces carried out targeted strikes on Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, and the action was described as Washington's first direct military action against Iranian positions in a month.
The statement said, “US forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat in the Strait of Hormuz. In essence, Iran created the threat and the U.S. military eliminated it to protect civilian mariners, commercial shipping, and the free flow of global commerce.” The target set was narrow and immediate: the launchers on Larak Island, not a wider campaign across the Middle East.
IRGC retaliation and Jordan
The IRGC condemned the action and said there were casualties among its personnel. The IRGC then launched retaliatory ballistic missiles aimed at US bases in Jordan, and local air defenses intercepted eight missiles. Iranian state media reported that missiles were launched at US forces in the Strait of Hormuz, then later reported that Iranian missiles had struck Jordan.
US officials said there were no significant impacts so far and said nearly all incoming missiles had been intercepted. For people watching shipping routes and military bases, the immediate practical change is that the exchange has already moved from one strike to a missile response, with interception now part of the picture rather than a theoretical safeguard.
Masoud Pezeshkian and Kharg Island
Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran does not seek war but will not stand idly by after US attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s AI video of Kharg Island being blown up added a public, visual threat to a live exchange already centered on maritime routes and military positions.
Kharg Island appears in the story as a symbolic target, not because the source explains a separate strike there, but because the video ties the island to the wider fight over movement through the Strait of Hormuz. The next threshold is whether the exchange stays limited to missile interceptions and strikes on launchers, or widens beyond the positions already named.
