US airstrikes target Iran's Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island

WASHINGTON — US military aircraft bombed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sites in southern Iran on Tuesday in response to renewed projectile attacks on commercial ships, US officials said.Explosions were reported in the southern Iranian port area of Bandar Abbas as well as in Chabahar and the island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz.US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the latest round of US strikes came in response to Iran forces allegedly attempting to place additional mines in the Strait of Hormuz.Describing the strikes as a “large and powerful,” Trump wrote on Truth Social that the latest round of retaliation also came in response to “the Iranians shooting eight missiles, all successfully knocked down,” at a US base in Jordan over the weekend.“If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings,” Trump posted.The US military carried out its latest airstrikes just one day after two tankers laden with Saudi oil were hit minutes apart by projectiles off the coast of Oman as they were attempting to traverse the strait.On Monday, US warplanes bombed sites on Iran's Larak Island near the port of Bandar Abbas in the Strait of Hormuz. US Navy Capt. Timothy Hawkins told Al-Monitor on Monday that the strikes were preemptive to stop IRGC forces that were "preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz."The Pentagon's top commander for the Middle East, Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, announced last week in a pre-recorded video address that the main internationally utilized shipping corridors via Hormuz had been cleared of explosive naval mines.American military forces in the region "are monitoring the area closely and remain prepared to protect the free flow of commerce" via the strait, Hawkins said on Monday.The airstrikes are the first by the US on the Iranian mainland in just over a month.This is a developing story and will be updated. AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.