US forces strike Iranian rocket launchers in Strait of Hormuz as IRGC warns of 'retaliatory response'

BREAKING: US forces strike Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, the first attack in over a month, as Iran's Revolutionary Guards warn of a 'retaliatory response'.

American forces have struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, in the Strait of Hormuz.

It's the first US attack in over a month, and it ends a quiet spell that some had started calling a de-escalation. Larak sits inside the strait itself, the narrow channel that so much of the world's oil has to pass through. You can see the picture here, US military vessels and cargo ships sharing those same waters, warships and tankers side by side in a very tight space.

The Pentagon has not framed this as the start of a wider campaign. Tehran is framing it differently. Iran's Revolutionary Guards say a retaliatory response is coming, and the IRGC does not usually say that for effect.

So after a month of calm, both sides are back on a war footing in the one waterway neither can afford to close. That is where this night ends.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.