Newsletters
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said Sunday that a United States attack on Larak Island, off the country's southern coast, killed and wounded a number of its fighters and citizens, and vowed to punish those responsible.
The IRGC's public relations department said in a statement that the strike targeted the island in Hormozgan province in an "act of aggression," accusing Washington of acting out of what it called domestic political weakness and a desire to reassert regional influence. It did not specify a casualty figure.
In its statement, the IRGC described the strike as the work of what it termed the "American-Zionist enemy," saying the attack was carried out in an attempt to "revive its sinister role and justify its actions before public opinion."
The statement said the assault would "result in punishment of the aggressor," though it gave no details on the timing or form any retaliation might take.
Iranian state media offered differing initial accounts of the incident. The Fars news agency reported that residents near Larak Island had heard an explosion, saying the precise location and cause were not immediately clear. The Tasnim news agency, citing preliminary information, said a drone had struck a location on the island.
American media described US forces striking the island after observing preparations to launch rockets fitted with mines toward the Strait of Hormuz, though Iranian outlets had not confirmed that detail independently at the time of the IRGC's statement.
Larak Island sits in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway separating Iran from Oman and the United Arab Emirates that serves as one of the world's most important routes for seaborne oil shipments.
A large share of global crude exports passes through the strait, making it a frequent flashpoint in tensions between Iran and Western powers, and a point Tehran has periodically threatened to close in past disputes.
Neither Iranian state media nor the IRGC provided a precise number of casualties from Sunday's strike. The Revolutionary Guards, the ideological branch of Iran's armed forces separate from its regular military, said only that "a number" of its fighters and civilians on the island had been killed or wounded.
The IRGC statement did not elaborate on what form its promised response would take or when it might occur.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
