US hits Iranian launchers preparing to fire in Hormuz; IRGC targets Jordan in response
Times of Israel · LC · trust 51/100
US forces on Sunday struck Iranian rocket launchers on the Strait of Hormuz in their first military action in a month, snapping a lull in fighting. Iran swiftly retaliated for what it called a deadly attack, launching missiles at American soldiers stationed in Jordan.
Forces with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the strait, according to Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the US Central Command. The US military last week completed clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes.
Semiofficial news outlets in Iran reported sounds of explosions near Larak Island on the strait. The IRGC reported “the martyrdom and injury of several of our fighters and compatriots.”
The last time the US military confirmed targeting Iran was on July 29, when it announced a “heavy wave of strikes” on dozens of IRGC targets including coastal surveillance and defense sites. On August 1, US 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.
Sunday’s attack was a “fatal mistake by the Trump regime during the economic war” and the enemy will pay the consequences militarily and economically, an IRGC spokesperson, Gen. Hossein Mohebi, said in a statement carried by Iranian media.
Shortly later, the IRGC said it launched an attack on the King Hussein and Al Azraq US bases in Jordan with ballistic missiles in response to the US attack on Larak Island.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. “Air defense systems intercepted eight missiles that breached the kingdom’s airspace at dawn today, Monday,” according to a statement from Jordan’s army.
The fighting came just days after the Trump administration said it would turn its focus to increasing economic pressure — rather than military action — to try to end the war with Iran. The shifting strategy centers on threats to punish any country or entity that continues to conduct business with Tehran.
The US turn to using sanctions came as the administration weighs diminished munitions stockpiles after months of war, sparking concerns that the prolonged conflict could undermine US military readiness in other parts of the globe.
As the conflict grinds on, Trump’s talk of finding a quick end to the war also appears to be fading. He stressed last week that he’s “not in a hurry” to get Iran back to the negotiating table, and he continues making the case that the Islamic Republic’s leadership is on the ropes.
Appointments to Iran’s senior security leadership in the past month, however, have signaled Tehran’s defiance after weathering decades of sanctions as well as a lack of tolerance for dissent at home.
Trump has consistently emphasized that the US and Israel campaign has been devastating for Iran’s navy and air force. Iranian officials have said the country has suffered $270 billion in direct and indirect damage. Israeli military strikes in the first weeks of the war wiped out much of the theocratic government’s leadership structure.
But Iran has found leverage through its strikes against vessels on the Strait of Hormuz, where relatively few ships carrying oil and liquefied natural gas are risking passage. At the same time, a US naval counterblockade of Iranian ports is squeezing energy supplies in Iran amid a shortfall of domestic production, as the US ramps up pressure on its foe.
Tehran continues to assert that even after it works out a management plan for the strait with Oman, its neighbor on the other side of the waterway, the US can’t use it until it fulfills its obligations under the memorandum of understanding the countries signed in mid-June.
Trump has repeatedly declared that the “Strait of Hormuz is open,” saying 24 vessels passed through last week. But that’s a fraction of the roughly 130 vessels that transited daily before the war began.
Earlier on Sunday, a multinational coalition overseen by the US Navy said commercial traffic through the strait remained at “reduced levels.”
And a monitoring agency run by the British military said an unknown projectile struck a tanker ship on Saturday north of Khasab, Oman, in the strait. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization said no casualties or environmental impact had been reported, and cited unspecified military authorities. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The US military said that as of Sunday, it had redirected 83 commercial vessels and disabled three under its blockade of Iranian ports.
As the United States intensifies its economic campaign against Iran, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday revealed plans to impose sanctions on another bank this week.
“This is going to be financial violence if we have to,” Bessent told the Associated Press in an interview. “We are showing people that we know who you are, you know who you are, and this has got to stop.”
Bessent spoke ahead of Group of 20 meetings in Asheville, North Carolina, where he will huddle individually with his counterparts from the world’s major and developing economies to encourage cooperation against Iran.
The Trump administration has mostly relied on warnings rather than new sanctions against Iran’s trading partners. There’s also the question of how Trump will handle China, which is Iran’s biggest trading partner and leading buyer of its oil.
Bessent, who did not name the bank that he said would be sanctioned this week, told the AP he would speak to his Chinese counterparts at the G20 meeting and “all options are on the table” in terms of sanctioning Beijing for its continued purchases.
But he rejected the idea that the administration was reluctant to confront China, calling it “a completely false narrative that the media picked up on.” He insisted that China and the US agree on the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Treasury’s first official action in…
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