President Donald Trump vowed on Monday that the U.S. will strike Iran “hard” after the two countries exchanged their first publicly confirmed attacks in weeks.
Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst that “there will be a response” to strikes Iran launched against U.S. forces in Jordan overnight in retaliation for an American attack on an island in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We’re going to hit them hard,” the President said, according to Yingst.
Trump’s threat comes after U.S. forces attacked two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, marking a resumption of military action after a roughly month-long pause.
CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins confirmed the strike in a statement to TIME, adding that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces “were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines” into the strait.
Last week, U.S. forces finished clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes.
“U.S. forces are monitoring the area closely and remain prepared to protect the free flow of commerce through this essential waterway,” Hawkins added.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) issued a statement soon after the U.S. strikes that was carried by Iranian state news agency IRNA, saying that Iran would respond to the attacks on Larak Island “with punishment for the aggressor.”
The IRGC later said in a statement early Monday local time that it had launched ballistic missiles at a U.S. air base in Jordan and warned that “every shot will be met with more devastating responses,” IRNA reported. Jordan’s armed forces said they intercepted eight missiles that entered the country’s airspace early Monday morning.
In a statement, CENTCOM rebuffed the Revolutionary Guards’ claims, describing the Sunday attack as “limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat” to the strait.
A pause in attacks
Before the Sunday strikes, the last time the U.S. military confirmed targeting Iran was on July 29, announcing a “heavy wave of strikes” on dozens of IRGC targets in Iran, including command centers, missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defense sites.
On Aug. 1, President Donald Trump said that he agreed to “hold off” strikes in Iran at the request of the U.S.’s regional allies in the Middle East.
How the U.S.-Iran war began
The strikes mark the latest escalation in the war, which began on Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched a wave of attacks across Iran. Trump described the operation as a “massive and ongoing” campaign intended to eliminate what he called imminent threats from the Iranian regime and openly encouraged Iranians to overthrow their government.
The attacks came after U.S.-Iranian negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program failed to produce an agreement and amid the Iranian government’s deadly crackdown on nationwide protests. Trump had accused Iran of rebuilding its nuclear capabilities following U.S. and Israeli strikes on three major Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025. Iran has consistently denied seeking a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening salvo of the Feb. 28 campaign. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel, U.S. military bases and other sites across the Middle East, widening the conflict throughout the region.
The war also led Iran to militarize and largely close the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy transit routes, through which about a fifth of global oil production typically passed before the hostilities.
A U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports was lifted under a June agreement, but Trump reimposed it after that deal and its accompanying cease-fire fell apart.
