Trump vows to hit Iran hard after Hormuz exchange: Fox

US President Donald Trump said the United States would respond after a new exchange of fire with Iran around the Strait of Hormuz, Fox News reported, as Tehran also called for dialogue.

“We're going to hit them hard,” Trump said, according to a Fox News reporter who said he spoke briefly with him. “There will be a response,” Trump was also quoted as saying.

The comments followed US strikes on Sunday on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States said it hit Iranian rocket launchers to stop Tehran from planting mines in the key shipping lane.

Iranian state media reported that three people were killed in the US attack on Larak and several others were wounded.

Iran said it retaliated with missile and drone attacks aimed at US forces in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said a ballistic missile attack targeting two US air bases in Jordan caused “heavy damage”.

Trump told Fox that all missiles fired at US forces had been shot down except one that was determined not to pose a threat. Jordan's army said it intercepted eight missiles, without stating their origin.

Iran also said it targeted US personnel at Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE and shot down an American drone over Hormuz. Abu Dhabi said it intercepted a drone over the country's waters but dismissed claims that Al Minhad had been targeted as “baseless”.

The Revolutionary Guards later reported knocking out a second US drone over Hormuz. Iran's armed forces central command also warned regional neighbours not to allow the United States to use their territory for attacks.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said at a summit in Kyrgyzstan that Iran continued to seek “agreement and understanding” and believed that continuing the war was not in Iran's interest or the region's interest.

The exchange came after weeks of relative calm in a six-month war in which Iran has kept the Strait of Hormuz closed and the United States has maintained a naval counter-blockade of Iranian ports.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would keep up economic pressure on Iran. He said a turning point in the pressure campaign could come “within weeks or months”.

One-fifth of the world's oil passed through the strait before the war, which was triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

The Revolutionary Guards said Monday that a “rogue” oil tanker caught fire near the strait after hitting two mines while attempting to use an “illegal route”. The US military called the claim “disinformation” and said no ships had hit mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres called the latest exchange of fire “very regrettable” after weeks of calm and urged a return to diplomacy.