JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - After more than a month's lull, the United States and Iran have resumed attacks in the Middle East.
U.S. Central Command said its forces attacked two rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz to prevent Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, from placing mines in the vital sea trade route.
IRGC vowed retaliation for the attack, which it says killed two people and injured two others.
IRGC called it 'a strategic and deadly mistake' by the Trump administration, and vowed 'response and punishment.'
'U.S. forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat in the Strait of Hormuz,' CENTCOM said in a brief statement posted on X. 'In essence, Iran created the threat and the U.S. military eliminated it to protect civilian mariners, commercial shipping, and the free flow of global commerce,' it added.
Later in the day, Trump posted videos on Truth Social showing an Iranian oil facility exploding, captioning it, 'Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!.'
Iran claimed it attacked U.S. military bases in Jordan and the UAE with drones. Reports quoting the military of both the countries, which are U.S. allies, said missiles launched from Iran in the early hours of Monday were intercepted.
The escalation in Middle East war comes just days after the Trump administration claimed that Iranian mines have been cleared from the Strait's international shipping lanes.
The White House claimed the United States controls the Strait of Hormuz. 'American forces are keeping energy moving to the world while denying Tehran the revenue it needs to threaten global commerce,' it said Friday.
Nearly 1,500 commercial vessels have moved through under U.S. protection, carrying 750 million barrels of crude to the world, while Iran has exported zero oil from its shores since the blockade resumed in July, according to it.
'75 vessels that tried to break the blockade were turned around.'
The White House also claimed that Gulf oil exports have recovered to two-thirds of pre-war levels and continue to rise.
The United States had imposed a tough round of economic sanctions on Iran, alongside a naval blockade of Iranian ports, last week.
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