U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that American forces were carrying out “large and powerful” strikes on Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz, describing the operation as retaliation for an alleged Iranian attempt to deploy sea mines in the waterway and for missile fire at a U.S. military base in Jordan.
“The United States is, as we speak, striking Iranian Targets near the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
(Photo: Anna Moneymaker / AFP, Stringer / Getty Images)
He said the strikes were in response to what he described as Iran’s failed attempt to add sea mines to the strait, adding that the mines had since been removed or detonated, as well as the launch of eight missiles at the American base in Jordan. Trump said all eight missiles were intercepted.
Trump also issued an unusually stark warning against further Iranian retaliation, saying Tehran would face a substantially more severe response if it struck back.
“If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level,” he wrote.
He went further, saying the next response still would not be Washington’s largest possible attack, which he described as “waiting in the wings.”
“When it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump said.
His statement came after U.S. Central Command confirmed that American forces had begun striking targets belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps around the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM said the operation followed recent attempts by the Revolutionary Guards to attack commercial shipping in the strategic waterway and U.S. troops deployed in the region.
Explosions were reported across several locations in southern Iran, including Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Qeshm Island, Jask, Sirik and Minab.
The latest strikes mark a sharp escalation after renewed exchanges of fire between Washington and Tehran. Trump had said a day earlier that the United States would “hit hard” following Iranian missile and drone attacks on American bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
Those attacks followed a U.S. strike on missile launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, which Washington said was intended to prevent Iran from deploying naval mines and disrupting tanker traffic through the waterway.
An Iranian official had earlier told Reuters that the confrontation remained “limited” in scope, while warning that Tehran would respond forcefully to another American attack.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem separately warned Americans in the Middle East that the security environment remained volatile and could deteriorate without warning, citing the possibility of flight cancellations, airspace closures and wider travel disruptions.