// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
US strikes Iranian launchers on Larak Island in first known attack in weeks
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz are visible near the beach of Bandar Abbas, close to Larak Island.
US forces have struck two Iranian launchers on Iran's Larak island, a US official said, marking the first known American strikes on Iran since late July.
"Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into Strait of Hormuz," the BBC's US partner CBS News quoted US Central Command spokesman Cdr Tim Hawkins as saying.
The IRGC said the attack on Sunday killed and wounded several people, and vowed "response and punishment".
It marks the first known US strike in Iran since US President Donald Trump paused a renewed military campaign in late July. The US said it had finished clearing all mines from the strait's main shipping lane earlier this month.
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Larak Island is just offshore from the key port of Bandar Abbas and sits right on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global shipping.
Iran is currently making tanker traffic pass by this island for checking and reportedly forcing vessels to pay $2m (£1.5m) to cross.
Hossein Mohebbi, the IRGC's spokesman called the attack a "strategic and fatal mistake by the Trump regime" and said that the "enemy will pay the consequences of this miscalculation in both the economic and military fields".