US Launches New Strikes on IRGC Targets Inside Iran

US forces struck IRGC targets across southern Iran on Tuesday in retaliation for attempted attacks on shipping and US troops, as Iran vowed to respond.

US Central Command announced that at 12 p.m. ET on Tuesday, American forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran, saying the strikes followed attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members in the region. President Trump confirmed the operation on Truth Social, describing it as retaliation for Iran's failed attempt to add sea mines to the strait and for eight missiles — all intercepted, he said — fired at the US base in Jordan. Iranian state media reported explosions east of Bandar Abbas, around Qeshm Island, and four projectiles hitting the southeastern port cities of Chabahar and Konarak, per IRIB and the official IRNA agency.

This is the second US strike on Iran in three days and follows an overnight exchange into Monday that marked the first direct fire between the two countries in over a month. The escalation comes just days after Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz free of mines, and it represents a shift back to military force after weeks in which Washington emphasized economic pressure through sanctions and financial isolation. The South China Morning Post reports that two oil supertankers were hit in quick succession while trying to exit the strait on Monday, according to maritime security consultant Marisks, underscoring how quickly the maritime situation deteriorated before Tuesday's strikes.

CENTCOM's announcement on X and Trump's Truth Social post provide the official US account, while Iranian state media independently documented the impact locations. Iran's Armed Forces Central Headquarters vowed to 'deliver crushing and devastating blows' against the 'American enemy,' warning that the longer US military operations persist, the heavier the losses the US will endure. The Jerusalem Post reports, citing a senior Iranian military source via the semi-official Tasnim news outlet, that Iran plans to respond with an attack 'several times larger' than the strikes it has conducted so far. The Pentagon did not detail which targets were hit, and the full extent of the attacks was not immediately clear, according to the South China Morning Post.

Energy prices reacted immediately. CNN reports that oil futures climbed above $94 a barrel after CENTCOM announced the strikes, while the South China Morning Post puts crude at around US$90 in midafternoon trading, a 4.8% increase — figures that differ between outlets and reflect intraday movement. The escalation comes weeks before the US midterm election, with affordability a central campaign theme, the South China Morning Post notes. Trump insisted the strait was in 'extremely good shape' with many ships transiting, though tracking data cited by CNN shows traffic remains significantly lower than before the six-month war began. Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned that if Iran is prevented from exporting oil from the Persian Gulf, no one else will be able to export oil from the region either.

The strikes complicate a stalled diplomatic track centered on the June Islamabad memorandum, a 60-day framework intended to halt the conflict. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in Bishkek at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit that Iran would 'immediately reciprocate' if the US returned to its commitments under the memorandum. Trump, however, told Fox News that an agreement with Iran 'isn't worth the paper it's written on,' according to Iran International. Mediators are still active: Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar pressed both sides this week to revive the memorandum, with Dar calling its sincere implementation the 'only way forward,' and Qatar has separately pursued talks on commercial shipping through Hormuz.

Trump warned that if Iran retaliates for what he called a 'very justified attack,' it will be hit 'again at a much harder and higher level,' while holding out an even larger option he called 'the biggest attack of them all.' Tehran has signaled it will not absorb the strikes quietly, with both military officials and the parliament speaker promising forceful responses. Analysts cited by the South China Morning Post see limits to US economic pressure, since China bought roughly 80% of Iran's oil in 2025 and Washington is reluctant to push Beijing too hard ahead of a planned Trump–Xi summit later this month. The immediate question is whether Iran's promised retaliation triggers the heavier escalation Trump has threatened or forces both sides back toward the memorandum.