Escalation of hostilities between the United States and Iran in the Middle East

It is once again time for escalation in the Middle East, where weapons are used again. While Donald Trump has for several weeks favored economic pressure to make Tehran bend, the United States carried out strikes on the Iranian island of Larak on Sunday, the first in a month. Iran then retaliated.

“US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island,” located in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, said US Middle East Command (CENTCOM) spokesman Tim Hawkins. The strikes came after “Islamic Revolutionary Guard forces were observed preparing to launch rockets loaded with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz,” he said. The attack left two dead and two injured, according to the Iranian Tasnim news agency.

American targets targeted in Jordan

After warning of “retaliation,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed to have attacked US military installations at two air bases in Jordan. “Any act of hostility will be met with even more powerful reprisals,” they announced.

Hostilities had declined in intensity over the past month, although sporadic exchanges of fire continued in the region, especially in and around the Strait of Hormuz. This strategic maritime passage through which a fifth of the world's hydrocarbons transited before the war is at the heart of the conflict between the United States and Iran, with Tehran blocking its passage.

Blockade of Iranian ports

In response to this blockage of the strait, the United States is conducting a blockade of Iranian ports and says it is ready "to protect the free flow of trade on this essential waterway", with CENTCOM claiming on Sunday to have "completed the mine clearance of international shipping lanes".

Our file on the War in the Middle East

In April, a ceasefire between the United States and Iran ended nearly 40 days of intense bombing, and a memorandum of understanding aimed at permanently ending the conflict was concluded in June. But this was shattered in July after a resumption of hostilities, and negotiations have since been deadlocked.