U.S. Strikes Iran After Army Apache Helicopter Goes Down Near Hormuz

The U.S. military said Tuesday that it had begun strikes against Iran after an Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter went down off the coast of Oman, according to the Associated Press. U.S. Central Command described the strikes in a social media post as “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.”

The aircraft went down at about 3:30 a.m. local time during a patrol near the Strait of Hormuz, Central Command said, according to the AP. The military did not say what caused the crash, and it is under investigation. President Trump went further. He wrote that military officials told him “the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters,” and that the United States “must, of necessity, respond to this attack.” Military officials have not said what brought it down.

Both service members are safe and uninjured, Trump said. They spent about two hours in the water before an unmanned boat found them, Capt. Tim Hawkins of Central Command said, according to the AP. Hawkins called it the first known drone rescue at sea by the U.S. military. The vessel was a 24-foot craft made by Saronic Technologies and assigned to the Navy’s Task Force 59, an uncrewed, AI-focused unit for maritime security in the Middle East.

Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, posted that the strait is “thousands of miles away from U.S. shores.” He said foreign forces near Iran face risks and that the “best solution is for them to leave,” the AP reported.

The incident came during a fragile pause in a war that began on Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel started striking Iran. The AP reports that the war has disrupted the global economy, raised energy prices and made basics such as food more expensive, and that Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. A ceasefire took effect in April, but it has not been turned into a deal to end the fighting permanently. On Monday, Iran and Israel exchanged fire for the first time since the truce began, and Iranian state television said Israeli attacks killed at least two members of air-defense units.

Apaches are a key U.S. asset in enforcing a blockade of Iranian crude oil shipments and tankers, the AP noted, and the United Arab Emirates has also used them to shoot down Iranian drones. The AP also reported that Israel is expanding its military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Diplomacy was moving in parallel. Trump said Monday that a deal had “a good chance” of being signed within “two or three days,” without giving details. Pakistan is leading the mediation. The U.S. wants Iran to give up its highly enriched uranium stockpile; Iran refuses and wants sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets before a final agreement, which Trump rejects, according to the AP. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Trump’s remarks “contradicted the agreed-upon sections” and that the U.S. is “neither seeking a ceasefire nor dialogue.”

What remains unsettled is who or what brought the helicopter down. Central Command has not said, and the only public attribution so far comes from the president.