U.S. and Iran trade strikes for first time in weeks over Strait of Hormuz control

Liz Landers:

Today, on the Strait of Hormuz, the water is deceptively calm after the first U.S. Iran exchange of fire in over a month. It began Saturday night, when U.S. forces say they struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island.

U.S. officials say Iranian forces were observed preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the strait. The island is a small strategic Iranian outpost sitting directly in the waters of the strait. Iran responded by launching missiles at U.S. sites in Jordan, all of which Jordanian officials said were intercepted with Patriot missiles, which are increasingly in short supply.

And, today, the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted an Iranian drone over its territorial waters, calling the attempted attack a -- quote -- "dangerous escalation."

But the Islamic Republic today has a different story.

Masoud Pezeshkian, Iranian President (through interpreter):

We do not seek war. That has been our message to the world until now. However, in the face of aggression, we will not stand by. We are capable of delivering a decisive response.

Liz Landers:

Meanwhile...

President Donald Trump:

They're a failed nation, yes.

Liz Landers:

... in the Oval Office today:

Donald Trump:

Their leaders are largely dead. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their surveillance equipment is almost entirely gone. That doesn't mean we won't smack them. We will see what happens.

Liz Landers:

And President Trump claimed ships are passing through the strait with U.S. military assistance.

Donald Trump:

Many, many ships got through last night, as you know, with the Navy's assistance. And we have been averaging 30 ships a night. That's a lot. And a lot of oil is coming out. That's why you haven't seen the price of oil go like they thought it might have to go.

Liz Landers:

Over the weekend, the president once again launched into Iran on social media, this time with a volatile claim using an A.I.-generated video stating that Kharg Island was being -- quote -- "blown to smithereens." There is no evidence the island, Iran's primary energy hub, was under attack.

Kharg sits far from the Strait of Hormuz, across the Persian Gulf from two key American bases in the Middle East. It is where 90 percent of Iran's oil exports is loaded onto ships. Global markets felt the impact instantly. Brent crude surged past $90 a barrel today, a direct hit to already pained American pocketbooks.

Meanwhile, in Kyrgyzstan, a shifting geopolitical chessboard. Leaders of what critics dub the Axis of Autocracy, Iranian President Pezeshkian, Russian President Putin, and Chinese President Xi, met today to fortify economic and diplomatic ties against Western pressure.

At the same time today, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hosted the G20 finance ministers in North Carolina. On CNBC today, Bessent said that Iran was lashing out kinetically because they are losing economically.

Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary:

The goal here is to create the conditions that they will want to come to the table.

Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline.

Liz Landers:

It has been a week since the administration promised economic D-Day for Iran. And yet at the epicenter of the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, the choke hold remains.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Liz Landers.