US launches strikes on Iran in retaliation for downed helicopter

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The U.S. military on Tuesday launched strikes against Iran in retaliation for Tehran shooting down an American Apache helicopter overnight, a response that President Trump hinted at earlier in the day.

U.S. Central Command (Centcom) forces “began launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5 p.m. ET today at the Commander in Chief’s direction, in response to yesterday’s downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter,” according to a statement from the command posted to X.

Centcom asserted that the mission was “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.”

The U.S. military earlier Tuesday revealed that the AH-64 Apache helicopter went down on Monday evening near the coast of Oman while patrolling regional waters. Two crew members were rescued by American forces using a Navy drone vessel within two hours and they are in stable condition.

Trump blamed the incident on Iran, saying Washington “must, of necessity, respond to this attack.

The U.S. and Iran have increasingly traded tit-for-tat military strikes, calling into question a tenuous ceasefire that has been in place between the two since April.

The latest strike also casts doubt on whether a deal to end the war with Iran could be signed within days, which Trump has forecasted this week.

Even as the war has surpassed the 100-day mark, Trump has claimed for weeks that a deal is imminent, showing an unwillingness to return to open warfare with Iran.

The president is focused on reaching a deal with the regime to orchestrate a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — effectively closed by Iran since the start of the conflict, sending energy prices soaring.

But Trump also told the New York Post last week that he would end the ceasefire with Iran if Tehran killed any American troops.

In turn, Iranian officials have made thinly veiled threats against the U.S., with Tehran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi calling for the U.S. to retreat.

“Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire,” he posted on X.

“To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave. We prefer language of diplomacy but speak other languages too.”

Updated: 6:02 p.m. EDT

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