Iran said on Monday that it has launched strikes targeting US military positions in Jordan in response to Washington’s first attack on its territory in a month, marking a fresh flare-up in the six-month war.
Tehran’s elite IRGC said it struck two US military air bases with ballistic missiles in Washington-allied Jordan, causing “heavy damage”.
Shortly after Iran’s announcement, the Jordanian army said it had intercepted eight missiles, without stating their origin.
The strikes came after the US revealed on Sunday that it had attacked Iranian rocket launchers on Larak, a small island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington said its attacks were aimed at preventing Iran from launching more sea mines into the strait, days after it announced it had completed clearing explosives from the strategic waterway.
“US forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat in the Strait of Hormuz,” the US Central Command wrote in a post on X.
“Last week, CENTCOM completed clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes,” said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the US Central Command.
“US forces are monitoring the area closely and remain prepared to protect the free flow of commerce through this essential waterway,” he said.
The IRGC said the US strikes resulted in “casualties”.
Strikes on top of economic pressure
The exchange of fire came just days after the war hit the six-month mark amid little to no visible progress in negotiations between the two sides to end it.
In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump and his administration prioritised “economic warfare” over military strikes on Iran amid intense domestic and international pressure to end the military campaign, which Washington said would be short-lived, but has since extended to months with no end in sight.
Tehran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic sea lane through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the US and Israel launched the war’s opening salvo on 28 February.
Iran went on a near-daily campaign of missile and drone strikes against US facilities and allies in the Gulf region, hitting targets in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, among others, dragging the wider region into conflict.
Diplomatic efforts, spearheaded by two main mediators Qatar and Pakistan, have tried for months to bring an end to the war.
While a ceasefire was agreed in April and a memorandum of understanding towards a final peace deal was signed in June, no agreement has been forthcoming, and Washington has since declared “economic warfare” against Tehran.
A US naval counterblockade of Iranian ports is squeezing petrol supplies in Iran during a shortfall in domestic production, as the US ramps up the pressure.
The April ceasefire put an end to the most intense fighting, but sporadic attacks, mainly around the Strait of Hormuz, and the collapse of the interim deal over the summer have dimmed the prospects of a final peace agreement.
The last US strike on Iran prior to Sunday’s came on 29 July in response to “an attempted surprise attack on US forces” in the region, the US military said. Earlier in July, CENTCOM attacked Iran for 13 consecutive nights.
Tehran’s closure of the strategic waterway has inflicted significant economic pain worldwide through logistical and supply chain crises, price hikes, and shortages of fertiliser and energy.
Oil prices rose after news of the renewed US strikes on Iran. Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed back above the symbolic $90 per barrel for the first time in a month. During the peak of the fighting, oil prices surpassed $120 per barrel for the first time in decades.
Additional sources • AFP