Shafaq News- Larak Island

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said a number of its members and several civilians were killed or wounded in a US strike on Larak Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, on Sunday.

In a statement, the Guard vowed to respond and to "punish the aggressor," its term for the United States.

A US official told the news outlet Axios that American forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island earlier Sunday after IRGC personnel were observed preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. The official said US forces had finished clearing sea mines from the strait's international shipping lanes the previous week and were monitoring the area to protect commercial traffic.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported the strike, with Fars saying a loud explosion was heard near the island and its cause was not immediately clear. Before the IRGC statement, several Iranian outlets citing unnamed local sources put the toll at two killed and two wounded, with a missile striking an IRGC naval position.

Larak Island sits near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, off Iran's southern coast, and has hosted Iranian military facilities for years.