US forces have struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, marking Washington's first known strike on Iran since late July, when President Donald Trump paused a renewed military campaign against Tehran. US Central Command said the launchers were targeted after IRGC forces were seen preparing to fire rockets fitted with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said the strike killed and wounded several people and vowed retaliation, calling it a "strategic and fatal mistake" by the Trump administration.

Larak Island lies off the port of Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world's oil and gas passed before the wider conflict began; Iran has reportedly been charging vessels $2m (£1.5m) to pass the island for inspection. The strike comes despite Trump's claim last week that all Iranian mines in the strait had been cleared, which Iran's deputy foreign minister dismissed as propaganda, and follows fresh US sanctions imposed on Iran on 24 August. The broader Iran war, triggered by US and Israeli strikes on 28 February, has now passed the six-month mark.