By Middle East Correspondent
London, (The Muslim News): US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island in southern Iran on Sunday, according to a US official, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attack killed and injured several of its fighters and civilians and vowed to retaliate.
The strike, reported by Axios, was the first US attack on Iranian territory since late July and came after a month of relative stagnation in direct US-Iran military engagements.
The US official said the launchers had been targeted because they were allegedly being prepared to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important oil transit routes.
US forces were “monitoring the area closely” and remained prepared to protect the “free flow of commerce” through the waterway, the official said.
The Strait of Hormuz narrows to about 39 kilometres (24 miles) between Larak Island and Oman’s Great Quoin Island.
Iranian media reported the attack shortly afterwards. Fars news agency said local residents had reported hearing an explosion near Larak Island, although its exact location and cause were initially unclear. Tasnim news agency reported preliminary information indicating that a drone had struck a location on the island.
In a statement, the IRGC’s public relations department accused the United States of carrying out an “aggressive” attack on Larak Island in Hormozgan province.
“The American-Zionist enemy, once again driven by its inability to resolve its internal problems and its declining credibility among countries in the region, and in an attempt to revive its sinister role and justify its actions before public opinion, carried out an act of aggression targeting Larak Island, killing and injuring a number of our fighters and citizens,” it said.
The IRGC vowed “punishment of the aggressor” but provided no immediate breakdown of the casualties.
The reported attack came amid continuing tensions over the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump recently said all mines had been removed from the waterway and warned of a “zero tolerance policy” towards any new attempt to lay mines. He said Washington was using “Space Force” technology to monitor the area.
Iranian officials, however, have said that “no one except Iran knows the location” of mines in the strategic waterway.
The latest escalation follows months of confrontation between Tehran and Washington. The conflict began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, prompting Iranian attacks on US military positions and assets in Arab countries aligned with Washington.
Iran and the United States signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding in Islamabad on June 18 following mediation by Pakistan and Qatar, with the stated aim of ending hostilities and paving the way for negotiations.
Implementation of the agreement subsequently stalled, with Tehran accusing Washington of failing to fulfil its commitments. The United States resumed military attacks on Iran in July, prompting further Iranian retaliation.
A separate dispute also emerged this week after Tehran rejected reports of an alleged Iranian plot against Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, describing the claims as “fabricated propaganda”.
Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei attributed the allegations to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling them “Netanyahu’s tricks”.
“The claim that there is a plot against Trump’s son is nothing but a big lie designed by Netanyahu to deceive and frighten the US president,” Rezaei said, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.
His remarks followed the broadcast by Iran’s Channel 3 of an AI-generated video containing information about Barron Trump’s residence and movements in New York. The video was widely interpreted as a threat against him.
Four Palestinians killed in Gaza
As tensions between Washington and Tehran remained high, Israeli attacks continued in Gaza, where four Palestinians were killed on Friday in two separate strikes, including three members of the same family.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, medical sources told Anadolu Agency that the bodies of three Palestinians were brought to the hospital after an Israeli strike near Al-Matahin junction in Al-Qarara.
Witnesses said two of those killed were brothers and the third was their cousin, all from the Abdeen family. Local sources said the three were struck by an Israeli drone outside their home.
In the Sabra neighbourhood southwest of Gaza City, another Palestinian was killed in an Israeli strike, Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Anadolu.
Medical sources at Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City said the body of the victim, identified as Hassan al-Deiri, and several injured Palestinians were brought to the hospital following the attack, according to Wafa.
In central Gaza, a Palestinian was moderately injured by fire from an Israeli military vehicle east of Deir al-Balah, according to a medical source at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Israeli military vehicles also opened fire in areas south of Khan Younis, while Israeli warships fired towards the city’s coastline. No injuries were immediately reported in those incidents.
The attacks came despite Trump’s call for Israel to halt strikes in Gaza.
In an August 17 interview with Fox News, Trump said Israel “shouldn’t be carrying out strikes in Gaza”. He also said Hamas had agreed to “give up its weapons” under a US-backed peace plan.
A US-backed ceasefire agreement went into effect in Gaza last October, but Israeli attacks have continued. Local authorities say more than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,300 injured in attacks they describe as violations of the truce, while hundreds of bodies have been recovered from beneath destroyed buildings and infrastructure.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its military campaign in the territory in October 2023.
Israeli drone strike hits Jenin
Israeli military operations also continued in the occupied West Bank, where an Israeli drone struck a partially built home west of Jenin on Friday, marking the first aerial strike on the city in nearly 10 months.
An Anadolu correspondent reported that the strike hit a half-built house in the Harsh al-Saada area and was not directed at a vehicle, as initially reported by Israeli media.
Several Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances arrived at the scene as Israeli military vehicles deployed in the area. The Red Crescent subsequently said its ambulance crew had been detained.
“The Israeli army is holding our ambulance crew after it arrived at the targeted house,” the organisation said.
There was no immediate information on possible casualties or the identities of those targeted.
The Israeli military said its aircraft had “precisely struck” several people in Jenin but did not identify them or provide details of casualties.
Israeli forces also arrested two Palestinians during raids elsewhere in the West Bank.
According to Wafa, Israeli forces raided the village of Tell, southwest of Nablus, ransacked several homes and arrested a Palestinian before seizing his vehicle. Another young Palestinian man was arrested during a raid on Qalandia refugee camp north of occupied East Jerusalem, according to local sources.
Jewish settlers attacks reported across West Bank
Military raids coincided with further attacks by illegal Israeli settlers across the occupied West Bank.
In the Nablus governorate, hundreds of Israeli settlers entered the village of Awarta under army protection, where they reportedly performed Talmudic rituals at Muslim places of worship.
Israeli forces also seized a Palestinian home in Awarta and converted it into a military post, according to local sources.
Near Beit Furik, settlers wearing army uniforms reportedly entered an area near the town and prevented Palestinians from reaching two local mosques for Friday prayers.
In the Bethlehem governorate, Israeli forces raided Al-Ma’sara village and searched the home of former Palestinian prisoner and deportee Mohammed Zawahra, Wafa reported.
Settlers also entered the Zaatara wilderness east of Bethlehem, gathering in the Wadi al-Muallaq area and confronting local residents, according to local sources.
Israeli forces carried out further raids in Tammun in the Tubas governorate, with military vehicles deployed in several areas, local sources told Anadolu.
Separate settler attacks were reported in the Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem and Hebron governorates, targeting Palestinians and their property.
In Jenin, Palestinian farmer Naim al-Shaer said settlers had raided his farm in the Arraba plain overnight, cutting down fig trees, damaging irrigation equipment and destroying a fence around the property.
“We take care of our land like our children, but the occupiers destroyed it,” al-Shaer said in video footage documenting the damage.
In Hebron, settlers surrounded Palestinian homes in Yatta and attempted to enter an olive grove, according to local sources.
The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, had reached about 780,000 by the end of July.
It said approximately 333,600 settlers were in Jerusalem and 446,400 in the rest of the West Bank.
Around 370 Palestinian children held
The arrests came as a new report said about 370 Palestinian children were being held in Israeli prisons, most of them in Megiddo and Ofer.
The Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Advocacy said the children were among more than 9,400 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel as of early August.
The organisation said the detention of Palestinian children had become a recurring feature of arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem rather than being limited to individual cases.
Israeli forces detained 276 Palestinian children during the first six months of this year alone, according to the report.
The group also highlighted the continued use of administrative detention, under which Palestinians can be held without charge or trial for renewable periods on the basis of undisclosed evidence.
Palestinian and international rights organisations have repeatedly raised concerns over conditions facing detainees, including minors, as well as allegations of inadequate food and medical care.
The developments prompted Israeli and foreign peace activists to demonstrate outside the European Union office in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday, calling on the bloc to take action over violence against Palestinians and their property.
Protesters carried banners reading, “The EU must stop Israeli terrorism now,” “Stop the war on the Palestinian people,” “Resist ethnic cleansing,” and “Stop the genocide.”
Israeli attacks continue in southern Lebanon
Israeli military activity also continued in southern Lebanon on Friday, with artillery and machine-gun fire reported in several areas.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli artillery targeted the town of Houla and Wadi al-Salouqi. No casualties or damage were immediately reported.
The attacks followed intensified Israeli operations on Thursday, including airstrikes, artillery shelling and ground incursions in areas including Mansouri and Mays al-Jabal.
Israel has continued military operations in southern Lebanon since launching a new offensive on March 2, with its forces advancing into additional areas of the south.
On June 26, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-mediated framework agreement providing for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory in exchange for the deployment of the Lebanese army and the disarmament of armed groups, including Hezbollah.
US-sponsored talks have continued over implementation of the agreement, including Israeli withdrawal and the deployment of Lebanese forces, while Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon have persisted.
The latest developments across Iran, Gaza, the occupied West Bank and southern Lebanon come amid continued efforts to contain several interconnected conflicts and prevent further escalation across the region.
[Photo: Relatives mourn during the funeral of Palestinian child Taim Hamdan at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Palestine on August 30, 2026. Several Palestinians were reported dead and wounded following an Israeli drone strike targeting the area in violation of the ceasefire, leaving families grieving their losses as casualties arrived at the medical facility. Photojournalist: Abdalhkem Abu Rias/AA]
