US Central Command said its forces carried out a new wave of strikes on Iranian military targets on Monday, Sept. 1, 2026, hitting air-defense sites, radar systems, maritime facilities, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. CENTCOM said the roughly noon-ET strikes followed the Guard’s attempted mine-laying and attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, and attacks on American service members in the region.
President Trump said on Truth Social that the US had launched “large and powerful” strikes, describing them as retaliation for Iran’s attempted mine-laying — mines he said the US “removed and detonated” — and for an Iranian missile fired at a US base in Jordan. He warned that if Iran retaliates further, it will be “hit again at a much harder and higher level.” He separately said that “there will be very little left” of the country after a larger potential future strike.
This exchange is the latest round in a war between the US, Israel and Iran that began Feb. 28, 2026, when a joint US-Israeli air campaign killed Iran’s then-Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei; his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was installed as Iran’s new Supreme Leader the following month.
Key facts
- Strikes: US forces hit IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) air-defense, radar, maritime and communications sites on Sept. 1, 2026, around noon ET
- Cited reason: Retaliation for Iran’s attempted mine-laying and attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, and attacks on US troops
- Iran’s retaliation: Missile and drone strikes on US-linked bases in Jordan; Jordan says it intercepted 10 of 13 incoming missiles
- Disputed wedding strike: Reported tolls vary by source, from 2 to 5 killed and 35 to 68 wounded in Kuhestak, unverified by any neutral source
- War origin: Began Feb. 28, 2026, when a US-Israeli strike killed Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
- Diplomatic fallout: Peru has severed relations with Iran
- Sept. 2 escalation: US struck two Iranian government tankers under a reported new “tanker for tanker” policy
Iran struck back at US-linked bases
Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on US-linked military sites in Jordan, striking at Prince Hassan, King Hussein and Al Azraq air bases and a base near the Gulf of Aqaba, according to reports. Jordan’s Armed Forces said they intercepted 10 of the 13 Iranian missiles that entered the country’s airspace, with the remaining three landing in remote areas away from population centers. Bahrain said it intercepted drones over its territory, and Kuwait separately reported drone activity. An IRGC spokesperson said the “offensive operation” would continue “as a lesson against the Americans until they regret their crime,” and Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iran’s armed forces have “unforgettable lessons” in store for Washington.
A disputed strike on a wedding gathering
CENTCOM’s own statement did not name specific locations for the Sept. 1 strikes. Iran’s state-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported explosions or strikes near several southern Iranian towns, including Sirik — but the US military has not confirmed or denied that these were the sites it hit.
Iranian officials say a US strike hit a home hosting a wedding gathering in Kuhestak, near Sirik in Hormozgan province, close to the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian sources disagree among themselves about how many people died:
- Iranian state television: four killed, 35 wounded
- Hormozgan’s deputy governor, Ahmad Nafisi: reports attributed to him gave conflicting figures of two or five dead; the five-death account included a child, and one report said 68 were wounded
- Iran’s Red Crescent: five killed, including a child, and more than 50 wounded
None of these figures has been independently verified by a neutral source.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said Iran would respond “with firmness” and accused the US of striking a residential home during a wedding. CENTCOM said it is “aware” of the Iranian media reports but has not confirmed or denied hitting this specific site. Separately, the command said “the U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC” — a general statement that did not address whether this particular strike happened.
Iranian state media separately reported that a strike in Khuzestan province, a different part of the country, killed 11 people; no neutral source has verified that number either.
A contested claim about US troops in Jordan
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed that a large number of US forces were killed at a base in Jordan during Iran’s retaliatory strikes. US officials disputed that claim. Neither account has been independently verified, and what, if any, American casualties resulted from Iran’s retaliation remains unclear. CENTCOM’s statement also noted that more than 50,000 US service members are currently deployed across the Middle East.
Part of a war that has run since February
- June 2026: The two sides reached a ceasefire framework.
- July 7: The ceasefire broke down after tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz that the US blamed on Iran.
- Aug. 30: The US struck Iran’s Larak Island, after a mostly quiet August with only scattered Iranian drone activity against Gulf states.
Al Jazeera described Monday’s exchange as the first clash in about a month. Whether a ceasefire remains nominally in place has not been addressed by either government.
Wider fallout
- Peru’s Foreign Ministry said it has severed diplomatic relations with Iran, accusing Tehran of “inciting an escalation of conflicts in the Middle East.”
- Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz thinned out: preliminary shipping data showed only four commodity vessels transited the strait on Sept. 1, down from a 10-day average of roughly 13.
- On Tuesday, Sept. 2, US forces struck two Iranian government tankers for the first time, reportedly under a new “tanker for tanker” policy approved by Trump; details on casualties or damage from that strike were not available.
No outside observer has confirmed casualty figures for either side from the Sept. 1 strikes, and the broader course of the war remains unsettled as both governments signal they are prepared to keep fighting.