WASHINGTON, August 31 — The United States struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, and Iran answered within hours with ballistic missiles at American bases in Jordan, reopening direct military exchanges that had been dormant for a month and sending oil prices sharply higher.
The strike, the first publicly acknowledged American attack on Iranian territory since late July, came after U.S. Central Command said its forces observed Revolutionary Guard personnel preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the strait. “US forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat,” Central Command said in a statement.
Iranian state media said the attack killed and wounded Iranian soldiers and civilians, a claim that has not been independently verified. The Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed retaliation, and early Monday its Aerospace Force said it struck two air bases hosting U.S. personnel in Jordan — King Hussein Air Base and Al-Azraq — with ballistic missiles and drones, targeting technical infrastructure, maintenance facilities and fighter-jet positions and claiming “heavy damage.” Jordan’s military said its air defenses intercepted eight missiles that entered Jordanian airspace; no significant damage or American casualties had been reported.
The exchange was the second time Iran has targeted U.S. positions in Jordan during the conflict, following a similar intercepted attack in late July. Jordan, a U.S. treaty partner that has spent the year trying to stay out of the war, now finds itself on the front line of its escalation.
Oil markets reacted immediately. Brent crude climbed more than 2 percent to above $90 a barrel in early Asian trading on Monday, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate up more than 2 percent, as traders priced in the risk of renewed disruption in a waterway that carried roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil before the war began in late February. “We are in another escalation phase. How long that lasts is impossible to determine — could be days, could be weeks,” said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG.
President Donald Trump escalated the rhetoric in parallel. In remarks reported Sunday, he extended his military threats to Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, saying it was “going to be blown to smithereens.” The threat against the island that handles the bulk of Iran’s crude exports raised the stakes of a conflict already in its sixth month.
The United States has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports since April and said it had completed clearing mines from the strait’s international shipping lanes only days before Sunday’s strike. Central Command said it had redirected 83 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two as of August 30. Negotiations to end the conflict remain at an impasse, with mediators still working to reopen the strait to normal traffic.
The immediate question now is whether Washington treats the attack on its bases in Jordan as the close of the exchange or requires another answer of its own. The pattern of recent months — strike, counter-strike, then an uneasy pause — has been broken before; analysts say the difference this time is the threat to Kharg Island, which would mark an escalation far beyond the shipping-focused campaign of recent weeks. For now, shipping through the strait remains disrupted, oil markets are bracing for further volatility, and both capitals have signaled they are prepared for the cycle to continue.