Updated on September 1, 2026 at 3:58 pm ET
The US began a series of airstrikes against Iran’s coast on Tuesday, attacks that came after Axios reported that President Trump was considering a Hormuz Strait bombing campaign aimed at disrupting Iran’s ability to target commercial shipping that one US official described as “mowing the lawn.”
Iranian media has reported explosions in Iranian cities and towns on the Strait of Hormuz, including Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island, and also as far southeast as the city of Konarak on the Gulf of Oman. Iran’s Fars news agency reported that US strikes killed two people attending a wedding ceremony near the city of Sirik.
US Central Command said that at 12 pm Eastern Time, its forces “began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran” and that the “strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region.”
Trump also announced the strikes and warned Iran not to respond, threatening major escalation if it does. “If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Despite Trump’s threat, the IRGC announced that it was launching retaliatory strikes and said its forces shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone. “The brave warriors of the IRGC have begun a regretful response to the aggressors, and in the first action, using the new aerospace defense system, they shot down the 50th advanced MQ-9 drone of the invading American army,” the IRGC said.
The strikes come two days after the US bombed Iran’s Larak Island, the first direct US strikes on Iran in about one month. The IRGC responded to the Larak attack by striking US bases in Jordan and also claimed an attack on a US base in the UAE. President Trump said on Monday that he would strike Iran “hard” following the IRGC’s retaliatory attacks.
The Axios report on the planned bombing campaign said that CENTCOM told Secretary of War Pete Hegseth that bombing Iran periodically may be necessary to ensure some oil tankers can still exit the Strait of Hormuz, and that Hegseth approved the plan and sent it to the White House.
The term “mow the lawn” is a term Israel used for its bombing campaigns in Gaza in the years preceding the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and the start of Israel’s genocidal campaign in the Strip. The language suggests the US is digging in for an open-ended conflict with Iran despite reports of Hegseth being warned by senior military leaders that the current US posture in the Middle East is unsustainable.
