US forces attack Iranian launch pads on Larak Island

"I can confirm that U.S. forces attacked two Iranian launch pads on Larak Island earlier today," a person close to the U.S. government said. Accordingly, the attack was preventative: it had previously been observed how units of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had made preparations to fire rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Iranian state media, several soldiers and civilians were killed and injured in the attack. There will now be a “reaction and punishment” from Tehran.

Most recently, US President Donald Trump announced that all sea mines in the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz had been cleared. Iran was told that any ship that planted new mines would be destroyed. He referred to a “zero tolerance policy” for mining in the Strait, after making similar threats in mid-April.

War against Iran initially subsided

Trump temporarily suspended US attacks on Iran at the end of July - on the grounds of giving ongoing negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian nuclear program another chance. Two days later, new attacks by the US military in Iran were reported. At the beginning of August, he canceled further planned attacks on Iran, justifying his decision by saying that Iran and other countries in the region had asked them not to do so because there were now "outlines of an agreement."

Recently, things had become quiet in Trump's war against Iran. There was no progress, either militarily or diplomatically. Since then, the Republican has claimed in many of his public appearances that Tehran has been defeated and that the strait, which is important for global oil trade, has been opened. This is contradicted by the fact that hardly any ships have been sailing through the Strait of Hormuz for months.

After Trump had been unable to show any progress for weeks, he recently declared an “economic war” against Iran. The Ministry of Finance announced isolated sanctions against certain people and companies, as they have been published again and again for weeks. However, concrete, far-reaching measures that would actually cut off Tehran's sources of income in the long term are still missing.