A marginal boat sails past cargo ships and other commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Aug. 5. Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP hide caption

AMMAN, Jordan — The U.S. military struck what it declared were Iranian rocket launchers in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday while Iran retaliated with strikes on U.S. forces in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in the first key attacks between the two sides in more than a month.

The U.S. military noted in an email to NPR that it struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Sunday that it said were preparing to fire sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.

In a related development, the Iranian armed forces mentioned those attacks against sites on Larak Island in the strait killed military personnel and civilians. Iran retaliated by firing ballistic missiles at U.S. forces and helicopters at an air base in the UAE, and targeted bases in Jordan.

It declared the Jordanian bases and aircraft had been used to launch and support the U.S. attack on Larak Island, a strategic Iranian military post that overlooks shipping lanes near the port of Bandar Abbas.

The UAE denied Iranian state media reports that its al-Minhad Air Base had been targeted ⁠by missiles, but stated it intercepted drones over its territorial waters that, it said, had been launched from Iran.

Furthermore, jordan's armed forces noted it had shot down eight missiles that entered the territory's airspace. The Jordanian military did not comment on whether other drones or missiles had penetrated its defenses and reached the air bases.

U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper noted last week that U.S. forces had completed clearing sea mines from the strait's international shipping routes. Iran nonetheless said a supertanker that had caught fire over the weekend had struck two naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, bringing it to a halt.

Iranian state TV quoted the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as saying the tanker was trying to pass through the waterway "illegally" and warned that it would do the same to any other vessel violating Iran's navigation restrictions.

Additionally, iran considers entry without its authorization through the strait illegal, although maritime law provides for freedom of navigation through the waterway shared between Iran and Oman. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed Iran would respond to attacks, but was not seeking war.

"We will never remain silent in the face of any aggression and will respond decisively to the aggressors," he was quoted as saying on state media.

The attacks Sunday followed weeks of threats, as well as even more restrictive economic sanctions on Iran declared last week by President Trump.

It is worth noting that trump also overnight posted what appeared to be an artificial intelligence-generated video of a substantial oil facility being attacked by missiles, accompanied by a caption that declared "Kharg Island being blown to smithereens." Kharg Island is 410 miles west of Larak Island, the site of the most recent U.S. strikes.

There was no indication that Kharg Island had actually been attacked, and a senior Iranian oil authority ridiculed the claim. "Trump's tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm," expressed Hamid Bovard, head of state-run National Iranian Oil Co. He said workers were continuing to repair damage from previous attacks on Kharg Island.

The last time the U.S. struck Iran was on July 29, before Trump had ordered a halt to attacks after discussions with Gulf leaders. The UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all host U.S. military personnel and extensive installations, which Iran has targeted repeatedly since the start of the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran in February.

In the broader context, while senior U.S. and Israeli officials have noted their goal was to topple the Iranian regime, Iran's leaders have held on to power. The Trump administration's focus has since shifted to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that has been a chokepoint for oil traffic and other shipping, causing global energy prices to spike over the past six months.

Jane Arraf shared from Amman, Jordan, and Hadeel Al-Shalchi reported from Istanbul, Turkey.

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