TEHRAN, Iran — The United States and Iran exchanged fire for the first time in a month after American forces attacked two rocket launchers on a key island in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.The U.S.strikes Sunday marked the first known attack by American forces since late July, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, saying several of its “fighters and compatriots” were killed in the assault.The attacks mark the first major military escalation in weeks in the war between the U.S.
and Iran, which began after American and Israeli forces launched a sweeping assault of Iran in late February, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.U.S.Central Command, or CENTCOM, said in a post on X late on Sunday that it had taken “limited” action against IRGC minelaying in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S.official told NBC News.The IRGC vowed “punishment” in response to the U.S.
strikes, later announcing it had launched attacks against U.S.military bases in Jordan.
Jordan’s military said it had intercepted at least eight missiles Monday morning.Pro-government supporters during a rally in Tehran on Sunday.Morteza Nikoubazl / NurPhoto via Getty ImagesIran also launched drones at an air base in the United Arab Emirates, with that country’s defense ministry saying its air force had “engaged” at least one drone.Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that the country’s forces would “firmly respond as appropriate to any military aggression,” in a statement carried by the semiofficial Fars news agency.Last week, President Donald Trump said all mines laid in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran had been removed or detonated, and that Iran had been warned that any vessel seeking to lay new ones would be destroyed.
CENTCOM refuted Tehran’s branding of its attack as an act of “aggression,” saying in its post ...