US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it began a wave of strikes against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran on Tuesday.
According to CENTCOM, the strikes are being carried out in retaliation for Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the recent attack on US troops stationed in the region.
Iranian state media reported that several explosions were heard in the eastern area of the city of Bandar Abbas.
US President Donald Trump later confirmed the strikes in a post to Truth Social, echoing CENTCOM’s reasoning for the strikes.
“The United States is, as we speak, striking Iranian Targets near the Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote. “The strikes are large and powerful, and in retaliation for the Iranians’ failed attempt at adding sea mines to the Strait, which currently has no mines (They have been completely removed or detonated!), and the Iranians shooting eight missiles, all successfully knocked down, at our Military Base in Jordan.”
Trump threatened Iran that, should it respond to the “very justified attack,” it will be hit “again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!”
Iran will respond to the US’ newest wave of strikes with an attack “several times larger,” the semi-official Tasnim news outlet reported on Tuesday night, citing a senior Iranian military source.
In a statement shared by Tasnim, the General Staff of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters stated that it would “deliver crushing and devastating blows to the despicable and malevolent American enemy.”
“The more the terrorist US military persists in its malign activities in the region, the heavier the losses it will be forced to bear.”
“We have repeatedly declared, and are resolved, that under no circumstances will we yield on the rights of the heroic Iranian nation, and we will impose a heavy cost on the American enemy,” it stated.
US strikes Iranian launchers on Larak Island
On Sunday, the US launched its first strikes against Iran in weeks, targeting two launchers on Larak Island after IRGC forces were identified as preparing the launchers to fire towards the Strait of Hormuz.
In response, Iran launched a number of missiles towards US troops and military assets stationed in Jordan.
Trump on Monday confirmed that all but one of the missiles were intercepted by US air defense systems and that nothing of importance was hit during the attack, during a Monday phone call with Fox News’s Trey Yingst.
Trump vowed that the US would “hit [Iran] hard’ in retaliation for their attempt to target US troops.