US strikes Iran’s Larak Island, Iran retaliates with heavy missile attack on US bases in Jordan

The US military has struck two IRGC rocket launchers on Iran’s Larak Island after forces were observed preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz, CNN reported Sunday — marking the first American strike in over a month.

US Central Command spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins confirmed the strike. Iran’s IRGC called it “a strategic and deadly mistake” and reported casualties among fighters and civilians, before launching retaliatory missile and drone strikes against two US air bases in Jordan, which were intercepted with no reported impacts. CNN

The strikes shatter a month-long lull as Iran-Oman diplomatic talks over the Strait’s reopening continue.

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The Islamic Republic’s massive ballistic missile response tonight may indicate the U.S. strike on Larak Island was far more devastating than initially acknowledged.

Channel 14, citing sources, says the strike killed dozens of IRGC personnel and wounded nearly 100 others. Those casualty figures remain unconfirmed, while the IRGC itself has acknowledged only that several soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded.

If the higher numbers are even partly accurate, they could help explain the scale and intensity of the Islamic Republic’s retaliation tonight, with a large barrage of ballistic missiles launched from multiple locations across Iran.

The U.S. strike targeted two IRGC launchers on Larak Island after American forces said they observed personnel preparing rockets loaded with sea mines for use in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Islamic Republic is also under enormous pressure from the U.S. blockade and economic strangulation, making the Larak casualties another potential trigger layered on top of an already deteriorating strategic position.

The unusually heavy ballistic response raises the possibility that the Islamic Republic suffered significantly greater losses on Larak Island than it has publicly admitted.