Tehran has launched missile and drone strikes on US military positions in Jordan after Washington attacked Iran’s Larak Island, reigniting direct hostilities following a month-long lull.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its retaliatory operation targeted the King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases, claiming to have inflicted “significant damage” on technical and maintenance infrastructure and positions where fighter jets were stationed.
Jordanian air defenses intercepted eight missiles that entered the kingdom’s airspace early Monday, the country’s armed forces confirmed. A US source separately told Fox News that no significant impacts had been reported.
The exchange began on Sunday when US forces struck Larak Island, near the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz, killing and injuring several Iranian soldiers and civilians.
US Central Command said it targeted two Iranian launchers after IRGC forces were allegedly observed preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM later characterized the attack as “limited” and “precise,” saying it had acted against an “imminent threat.” It has not publicly provided visual evidence supporting the minelaying allegation.
The IRGC vowed that the “aggressors will face definite punishment” and warned that “every attack will be met with even more devastating responses.”
Following the strikes, oil prices went up in early trading in Asia, with West Texas Intermediate futures growing by 2.47% to $85.46 per barrel and Brent futures climbing by 2.71% to $90.49 per barrel.
The renewed fighting marks the first direct US military action against Iran since late July. It comes less than a week after Washington said it had finished clearing sea mines from international shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, where maritime traffic has remained heavily disrupted.
Last week, Washington announced what it called an “economic onslaught” against Iran, as US President Donald Trump’s administration shifted its emphasis from large-scale military action toward economic pressure.
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31 August 2026
The new American attack on Iran “will receive an appropriate response,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has said, as cited by the Mehr news agency.
“The foothold of foreigners must be cut off from the region, and they must learn serious lessons so they do not repeat their aggressions,” Gharibabadi said.
The UAE’s Defense Ministry has said that media reports of a missile attack on the country’s Al Minhad airbase, hosting US forces, “are false.”
The UAE’s presidential adviser, Anwar Gargash, has called for de-escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, insisting that the crisis needs a “realistic and sustainable political solution.”
“The state of neither war nor peace cannot be a sustainable solution, just as the policy of targeting the Arab Gulf states and Jordan has proven to be a failure,” he said in a post on X.
The path towards settling the conflict must begin with the sides “overcoming the escalation and returning navigation in the Strait of Hormuz to its normal state,” Gargash argued.
The head of the National Iranian Oil Company has ridiculed Donald Trump for posting AI-generated videos depicting a missile strike on Kharg Island.
“Trump’s tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,” Hamid Bovard said, as cited by Nournews.
Operations at the key oil hub, which accounts for 90% of Iran’s crude trade, are continuing without interruption, Bovard insisted.
According to Reuters, there is no evidence that the island has come under attack.
The UAE’s air force has engaged a drone approaching from Iran over its territorial waters, the Gulf nation’s Defense Ministry has said.
Several top US military commanders have warned Secretary of War Pete Hegseth against continuing large-scale operations against Iran, the Washington Post has reported.
The heads of the army, navy, air force and the chiefs of the US contingents in Europe, Asia and Latin America expressed a belief that American forces are spread too thin due to the conflict with Tehran, the paper said.
Some 50,000 American troops are currently on high alert in case US President Trump orders renewed military action in the Middle East.
The commanders said in a classified report that they disagree with the deployment orders, but will still carry them out, according to WaPo.
Oil prices rose in early trading in Asia following the exchange of strikes between US and Iranian forces. WTI futures grew by 2.47% to $85.46 per barrel, with Brent futures climbing by 2.71% to $90.49 per barrel.
Iran’s IRGC has said a supertanker which tried to traverse the Strait of Hormuz via the southern route, designated by the US, has “caught fire” after being hit by two naval mines.
Passage through the waterway is only possible though the route overseen by Tehran, the IRGC stressed.
“Shipping companies should not be deceived by the provocations of the child-killing American army and should not unnecessarily expose the property and lives of their ships’ crews to destruction,” the IRGC advised.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Strait of Hormuz amid the renewed exchange of strikes between Tehran and Washington.
IRGC air defenses hit the “long-range American MQ-9 drone,” causing it to crash into the waters of the Persian Gulf, Iranian media reported, citing a Guard statement.
The US has yet to confirm the loss. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the US military had lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reapers during the war with Iran, although not all were shot down. The aircraft can cost between $30 million and $50 million each, depending on its sensors and weapons.
Iran is “not looking for war” but will not “sit still in the face of any aggression,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in his first public comments since the US strike on Larak Island.
“We will give a decisive response to the aggressors,” Pezeshkian said before departing for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
“Instability and unrest in the region are not in the interest of any country and will challenge everyone,” he added, according to Fars news agency.
US President Donald Trump has yet to publicly comment on the US strike on Iran’s Larak Island, but has posted an AI-generated video depicting a different Iranian island being “blown to smithereens.”
The clip, shared on Trump’s Truth Social account, purported to show explosions across Kharg Island, Iran’s principal oil export hub.
There has been no official confirmation of any US attack on Kharg, and the footage is obvious AI slop. Trump followed it with another similar AI-generated clip posted without any caption.
US Central Command has yet to issue a formal press release on the exchange of strikes, but published a “fact check” on X rejecting the IRGC’s description of the attack on Larak Island as an “act of aggression.”
“US forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said, asserting that Iran had “created the threat” and the US military had eliminated it to protect civilian shipping and global commerce.
The post presented the alleged Iranian minelaying operation as fact, but did not provide visual evidence or further details supporting the claim.
Jordanian air defenses intercepted eight missiles that entered the kingdom’s airspace early Monday, the armed forces said. The statement did not mention Iran, despite the IRGC having already claimed responsibility for missile and drone strikes against US military facilities in Jordan.
“The Jordanian Armed Forces dealt with these attacks and successfully destroyed the missiles before they could pose any threat to citizens or property,” a military spokesman said.
30 August 2026
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has released footage allegedly showing ballistic missiles being launched toward US technical and maintenance infrastructure, as well as fighter-jet positions, at the King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases, according to Press TV.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it launched a combined missile and drone attack on US military facilities in Jordan in retaliation for the strike on Larak Island.
The operation, dubbed “Punishment of the Aggressor,” targeted the King Hussein and Al-Azraq bases, destroying “technical and repair infrastructure” as well as hangars and sites where enemy fighter jets were stationed, the IRGC claimed.
“Aggression and crimes will not solve the enemy’s desperation in attempting to weaken the Islamic Republic’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, and every attack will be met with even more devastating responses,” the statement said.
Former presidential counterterrorism adviser Joe Kent has warned that the latest US strike risks triggering a new cycle of escalation, calling for American troops to be withdrawn from the region.
“If Iran gets lucky & kills U.S. troops we will be sucked back into the war on Iran’s terms,” Kent wrote on X. “Troops out. Limit risk. Focus on economic pressure & diplomacy.”
The warning comes just days after Kent told Tucker Carlson that continued escalation with Iran could ultimately leave Washington facing a choice between a full-scale ground invasion and the use of nuclear weapons.
READ MORE: US could nuke Iran amid deadlock – ex-counterterrorism adviser
Nearly all incoming Iranian missiles targeting US forces in Jordan have been intercepted so far, Fox News reports citing an anonymous US source. No significant impacts have been reported, the source added.
Iranian forces reportedly launched missiles at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, according to multiple OSINT accounts.
Footage circulating online appears to show Patriot air-defense systems intercepting numerous incoming missiles over Jordan.
The base has previously come under Iranian attack, including a July strike that resulted in publicly acknowledged US military casualties.
Iranian missiles have reportedly been fired toward US vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Press TV.
Footage shared by the outlet purportedly shows missiles being launched from Iran at what it described as “enemy positions.” Press TV said it could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
The head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Ebrahim Azizi, has threatened a “devastating” response to the US strike.
“Undoubtedly, no crime, at any level, goes unanswered; a response that is devastating, more painful, and instructive, which will complete the chain of your failures,” Azizi wrote in Farsi on X, adding: “Wait in fear and terror!”
“Test our will once more, and pay a heavier price. Retaliation is coming; JUST RUN!” he warned in a separate English-language post.
US Central Command has confirmed carrying out the strike on Iran’s Larak Island. CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins told Axios IRGC forces had been “preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has confirmed that Larak Island was struck by US forces, saying several of its personnel and civilians were killed or injured. The statement opened with a pledge that Iran would “surely take retribution from the criminals” and said the attack would be met with a response “that includes punishment for the aggressor.”
“This action will be answered by the sons of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the aggressors will face definite punishment,” the IRGC said. It accused the “American-Zionist enemy” of acting out of “desperation over internal problems” and declining credibility in the region, describing the strike as another attempt to “revive its sinister role and sway public opinion.”
US forces have carried out a strike on Iran’s Larak Island, targeting two launchers, Axios reported, citing a US official. The official claimed that IRGC forces had been preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz.
Explosions have been heard near Iran’s Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.