The US military struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island after Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces were seen preparing to fire towards the Strait of Hormuz, a US official confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday night, marking the first US strike on Iran in several weeks.
According to Axios, the rockets were armed with sea mines.
IRGC-run media outlet Fars News reported that witnesses in the area heard the explosion.
Following the airstrikes on Larak, US President Donald Trump posted an AI video to Truth Social, captioned "Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!" The video depicts US forces attacking Kharg Island in Iran, which quickly explodes until there is nothing left.
The IRGC spokesperson claimed the attack was born out of "desperation" from the US and Israel, state broadcaster IRIB reported on Sunday evening.
IRGC spokesperson responds to US strikes
"We will take retribution" against the US for striking Larak Island, the spokesperson said, adding that Iran would "punish those responsible."
The IRGC said that the American attack had killed and injured several soldiers and civilians, but did not provide a precise casualty toll.
"This action will be met with a response from the sons of Islamic Iran, and the US will face punishment," IRIB reported.
The attack was "a strategic and fatal error by the Trump administration," the IRGC spokesperson said in a statement on X/Twitter. It "will shift the balance against its designers and entail heavy costs."
"The enemy [US] will pay the consequences of this miscalculation in both the economic and military arenas," the post added.
IRIB added that the attack on Larak Island "was carried out in two waves in quick succession."
US recently began Operation Economic Outcast
This is the first US strike in Iran since the end of July. Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told foreign counterparts that the US would avoid striking Iran "for the time being," Axios reported.
The US intended to pressure Tehran through Operation Economic Outcast, sources familiar with the matter told Axios.
The Operation, which was announced by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on August 24, was described by both Bessent and US President Donald Trump as an "economic D-Day" against the Iranian regime.
"Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone," said Bessent.
"We are no longer managing the Iranian threat," he emphasized. "We are ending it."
Rubio didn't rule out a return to strikes if Iran attacked the US first.