Iran launched anti-ship missiles from Qeshm Island and its southern coastline toward the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. The launches represent the latest in a series of provocative moves by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the region, where roughly a fifth of global oil supply passes through a channel narrow enough that ships can practically wave at each other.
Qeshm Island, Iran’s largest in the Persian Gulf, sits at the mouth of the Strait. The IRGC has turned it into a fortified launch platform over the past several years, complete with underground missile storage facilities that Iran publicly revealed in 2021. Satellite imagery from March 2026 confirmed the deployment of anti-ship missile systems on the island.
What happened and why Qeshm matters
The missiles were fired from Qeshm Island and the Sirik area along Iran’s southern coast, directed toward the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. On August 10, 2026, launches from the same area reportedly targeted an oil tanker near Oman’s coast, though Iranian and US accounts of these incidents have diverged sharply.
In June 2026, Iran made claims about launches directed at US naval vessels. US Central Command denied those claims and responded with counterstrikes on Qeshm’s missile sites. Between May and July 2026, US forces conducted multiple operations targeting Iranian military infrastructure on the island.
