US forces struck two rocket launch platforms on Larak island, in southern Iran, on Sunday (Aug. 30), according to a US government official. It was the first known US attack on Iran since late July, after weeks in which the war between the two countries had settled into a stalemate. Iran's Revolutionary Guards (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC) said the strike killed and wounded military personnel and civilians, and that Tehran will "respond to and punish" those responsible.
"I can confirm that, earlier this Sunday, US forces struck two Iranian launch platforms on the island of Larak. Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard were seen preparing to launch rockets and place naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz," the official said, in an account reported by G1, Brazil's largest news portal.
Tasnim, a news agency linked to the Iranian government, said the US used a drone in the strike. In a statement carried by the state broadcaster IRIB, the Revolutionary Guards gave no casualty figure but said "several fighters and civilians" were killed and wounded, according to Reuters.
For Brazil, the attack matters mainly through the economic channel. Before the war, about one fifth of the oil consumed worldwide passed through the Strait of Hormuz, the passage between Iran and Oman that links the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, and which has been blocked since the conflict began. Escalation in the region tends to push international oil prices up, and Brazil, an oil exporter, feels the effect at the pump, where fuel prices track global benchmarks, and in the cost of shipping and marine insurance for foreign trade.
The interests at stake
The target Washington chose lines up with the red line set by US President Donald Trump. Last week he said all mines had been detonated or removed from the strait's international waters, and warned that any vessel used to lay new mines would be destroyed. Tehran, for its part, keeps its military presence at the mouth of the Gulf in the Revolutionary Guards and promised to punish the attack. Early in the war, Iran struck Persian Gulf countries that host US military bases, and Washington now threatens severe sanctions on countries that support Iran.
Six months of war
The United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, and the war is now six months old. US and Israeli strikes on Iran, along with Israel's offensives in Lebanon, have killed thousands and forced millions from their homes, besides the deaths of 18 US service members, according to G1. Fighting had cooled in recent weeks, and Sunday's strike breaks that pause, with Tehran promising retaliation.