Iran fires ballistic missiles at US bases in Jordan

Iran said Monday it launched ballistic missiles at two U.S. bases in Jordan in retaliation for an American strike on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps rocket launchers on Iran’s Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, marking a new escalation in the months-long conflict between Washington and Tehran. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said ballistic missiles targeted U.S. forces at the King Hussein and Al Azraq bases in Jordan, according to Iranian media. Jordan’s armed forces said Monday they intercepted eight missiles that entered Jordanian airspace, state television reported. The launches followed reports Sunday that Iran was attacking U.S. forces stationed in Jordan. Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, citing a U.S. source, said there had been no significant impact and that nearly all incoming missiles had been intercepted at that point. The Revolutionary Guards said Monday’s missile attack was retaliation for a U.S. strike Sunday on Larak Island, a strategically located Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz. A senior U.S. official said the American military struck two IRGC rocket launchers on the island that were preparing to fire missiles carrying naval mines toward the Strait of Hormuz. The official said U.S. forces had finished clearing mines from international shipping lanes and were prepared to protect commercial navigation through the strategic waterway. Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported preliminary, unofficial figures of two people killed and two wounded in the U.S. strike. Shortly afterward, the Revolutionary Guards vowed that the attack would be met with a response and that the United States would be punished. The confrontation comes after about six months of fighting with Iran as President Donald Trump presses Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and accept U.S. terms for ending the conflict. U.S. Central Command has kept more than 50,000 troops on alert in the region for months amid the possibility of further military action.