US launches 'large and powerful' strikes on IRGC targets across southern Iran
US strikes on Iran targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps assets across the country's south in what President Trump called a "large and powerful" military action
The United States launched substantial strikes against IRGC assets in southern Iran, prompting retaliatory missile and drone attacks from Iran on US interests and regional allies. These actions have heightened tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil transit waterway. Civilian casualties were reported in Iran, and the strikes have had measurable economic effects, including rising oil prices. Both sides have issued strong warnings, with the US reiterating its commitment to controlling the Strait and maintaining sanctions.
The United States launched substantial strikes against IRGC assets in southern Iran, prompting retaliatory missile and drone attacks from Iran on US interests and regional allies. These actions have heightened tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil transit waterway. Civilian casualties were reported in Iran, and the strikes have had measurable economic effects, including rising oil prices. Both sides have issued strong warnings, with the US reiterating its commitment to controlling the Strait and maintaining sanctions.
The United States launched substantial strikes against IRGC assets in southern Iran, prompting retaliatory missile and drone attacks from Iran on US interests and regional allies. These actions have heightened tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil transit waterway. Civilian casualties were reported in Iran, and the strikes have had measurable economic effects, including rising oil prices. Both sides have issued strong warnings, with the US reiterating its commitment to controlling the Strait and maintaining sanctions.
The United States launched a wave of strikes against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps assets across southern Iran on Tuesday night, which President Donald Trump described as "large and powerful." The strikes hit air defence sites, radar installations, maritime facilities, mine laying capabilities and communications infrastructure. American forces struck targets in Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Konarak, Sirik and Jask, along with the civilian Jiroft Airport and a fishmeal factory on Qeshm Island. Trump said the radar systems were targeted because Iran had been rebuilding them.
The strikes caused civilian casualties. Shrapnel from one strike hit a home in Kuhestak, in Sirik county, where a wedding was taking place. Iranian officials and the Red Crescent said the blast killed up to five people, including a child, and wounded between 50 and 68 others. US Central Command said its forces do not deliberately target civilians.
Iran responded with ballistic missiles and drones aimed at American positions and regional allies hosting them, consistent with the pattern established since the war began. At least 13 missiles were fired towards a US base near Aqaba in Jordan; ten were intercepted, and the rest fell in open ground without causing casualties. The US Marine Corps base Camp Titin in Jordan faced an “intense ballistic missile attack”, said the IRGC, as reported by Iranian news outlet Tasnim.
Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates deployed air defences against Iranian drones, and Bahrain reported intercepting its own attacks. Tehran's military spokesmen said the US would face further retaliation and that its position on the Strait of Hormuz remained unchanged.
The immediate trigger was identified by American officials on August 30, when US forces detected the IRGC preparing to lay fresh sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington responded by bombing Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island. Tehran then fired ballistic missiles at American sites in Jordan and the UAE, and Trump followed with Tuesday's strikes. The sequence has followed a consistent pattern of action and response since the war resumed.
Washington has said the strikes are necessary to protect commercial shipping through a waterway that carries around a fifth of the world's oil. The economic effects have been measurable. Crude prices rose roughly seven per cent over the week, and the average price of petrol in the US climbed to $4.10 a gallon. Inside Iran, the strikes caused power outages across Hormozgan province and damage to communications towers, in addition to the casualties in Sirik county.
Trump has said further Iranian retaliation would be met at "a much harder and higher level," and stated that little would remain of the country if Tehran persisted. He also said he saw no urgency in returning to negotiations, adding that he was content to maintain military control over the Strait while sanctions continued to affect Iran's economy. The June ceasefire, agreed under different circumstances, did not hold for more than a month.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was prepared to return to the June agreement if the United States honoured its commitments immediately. “I am stating clearly that if the US returns to its commitments under the memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately reciprocate,” said Pezeshkian while attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. However, neither side has shown willingness to move first: Iran continues to threaten the Strait, and the US has not offered the concessions Tehran is seeking in exchange for its reopening.