Iran retaliates following deadly US strike (VIDEOS)

The UAE’s air force has engaged a drone approaching from Iran over its territorial waters, the Gulf nation’s Defense Ministry has said.

Several top US military commanders have warned Secretary of War Pete Hegseth against continuing large-scale operations against Iran, the Washington Post has reported.

The heads of the army, navy, air force and the chiefs of the US contingents in Europe, Asia and Latin America expressed a belief that American forces are spread too thin due to the conflict with Tehran, the paper said.

Some 50,000 American troops are currently on high alert in case US President Trump orders renewed military action in the Middle East.

The commanders said in a classified report that they disagree with the deployment orders, but will still carry them out, according to WaPo.

Oil prices rose in early trading in Asia following the exchange of strikes between US and Iranian forces. WTI futures grew by 2.47% to $85.46 per barrel, with Brent futures climbing by 2.71% to $90.49 per barrel.

Cars queuing at a petrol station in Lisbon, Portugal. © Getty Images / Luis Boza

Iran’s IRGC has said a supertanker which tried to traverse the Strait of Hormuz via the southern route, designated by the US, has “caught fire” after being hit by two naval mines.

Passage through the waterway is only possible though the route overseen by Tehran, the IRGC stressed.

“Shipping companies should not be deceived by the provocations of the child-killing American army and should not unnecessarily expose the property and lives of their ships’ crews to destruction,” the IRGC advised.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Strait of Hormuz amid the renewed exchange of strikes between Tehran and Washington.

IRGC air defenses hit the “long-range American MQ-9 drone,” causing it to crash into the waters of the Persian Gulf, Iranian media reported, citing a Guard statement.

The US has yet to confirm the loss. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the US military had lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reapers during the war with Iran, although not all were shot down. The aircraft can cost between $30 million and $50 million each, depending on its sensors and weapons.

Iran is “not looking for war” but will not “sit still in the face of any aggression,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in his first public comments since the US strike on Larak Island.

“We will give a decisive response to the aggressors,” Pezeshkian said before departing for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

“Instability and unrest in the region are not in the interest of any country and will challenge everyone,” he added, according to Fars news agency.

US President Donald Trump has yet to publicly comment on the US strike on Iran’s Larak Island, but has posted an AI-generated video depicting a different Iranian island being “blown to smithereens.”

The clip, shared on Trump’s Truth Social account, purported to show explosions across Kharg Island, Iran’s principal oil export hub.

There has been no official confirmation of any US attack on Kharg, and the footage is obvious AI slop. Trump followed it with another similar AI-generated clip posted without any caption.

US Central Command has yet to issue a formal press release on the exchange of strikes, but published a “fact check” on X rejecting the IRGC’s description of the attack on Larak Island as an “act of aggression.”

“US forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said, asserting that Iran had “created the threat” and the US military had eliminated it to protect civilian shipping and global commerce.

The post presented the alleged Iranian minelaying operation as fact, but did not provide visual evidence or further details supporting the claim.

Jordanian air defenses intercepted eight missiles that entered the kingdom’s airspace early Monday, the armed forces said. The statement did not mention Iran, despite the IRGC having already claimed responsibility for missile and drone strikes against US military facilities in Jordan.

“The Jordanian Armed Forces dealt with these attacks and successfully destroyed the missiles before they could pose any threat to citizens or property,” a military spokesman said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has released footage allegedly showing ballistic missiles being launched toward US technical and maintenance infrastructure, as well as fighter-jet positions, at the King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases, according to Press TV.