The US and Iran have traded strikes after American forces attacked two rocket launchers on Larak Island, which is just offshore from the key port of Bandar Abbas, located on the Strait of Hormuz.

A vital waterway for global shipping, the Strait of Hormuz was used to transport about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the conflict began in February this year.

While the US Central Command (Centcom) said it took ‘limited, precise action’ after observing Iran preparing to ‘launch rockets and deploy sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz’, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed ‘response and punishment’.

Amid this, Jordan’s army said it intercepted eight missiles.

The Iranian army had targeted an air base in the UAE, allegedly with drones, even as Iran continues to demand that tanker traffic pass by Larak Island.

Iran’s foreign ministry has ‘strongly condemned the American military aggression on Larak’.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said: “We are not seeking war, but we will deliver a decisive response to the aggressors.” – editor@nrifocus.com