US Launches Strikes Against Iran After Iranian Drone Downs Apache Helicopter Near Strait Of Hormuz

The United States launched a series of strikes against Iran on Tuesday in retaliation for the downing of a US Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz, Central Command (Centcom) said.

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Centcom said US Central Command forces began launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5 p.m. Washington time (9 p.m. GMT) in response to the downing of a US Army Apache helicopter near the coast of Oman on Monday night, while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz.

Breakingthenews.net

The helicopter’s two crew members were rescued alive about two hours later by a naval surface drone, and US officials cited by ABC said the aircraft was brought down by an Iranian drone.

Trump attributed the downing to Iran on his Truth Social network, writing: ”The Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters (…). The two pilots are safe and uninjured.”

Hours before the strikes, the Reuters account said Israel killed at least 29 people in Tyre, the largest city in southern Lebanon, despite Washington's warnings.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned against any potential U.S. miscalculation in the Persian Gulf, saying foreign forces in proximity to Iranian territory are at constant risk on account of their own human error, accidents, or being caught in crossfire.

Speaking on Tuesday evening, June 9, Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz is not located in international waters but is jointly shared by Iran and Oman, and he stressed that the waterway lies thousands of miles away from the United States.

Dailynewsegypt

Araghchi also said Iran’s armed forces remain on constant alert and are prepared to respond to any violation of Iran’s airspace, territorial waters, or land borders, and he argued in a post on X that the most effective way to reduce such risks is for foreign military forces to leave the region as soon as possible.

In the same dispute, Trump had claimed on Truth Social that an advanced Apache helicopter conducting a patrol mission over the Strait of Hormuz had been targeted by Iranian forces, and he said the United States may be required to respond to the incident.

In a separate statement carried by MercoPress, the speaker of parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said, "We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages with much greater fluency," adding, "You reap what you sow."

Even as Washington moved toward retaliation, Trump insisted a deal was close and said a pact barring Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons could be signed in two or three days, after which the Strait of Hormuz would reopen immediately.

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Dailynewsegypt reported that Trump said negotiators were in the final stages and predicted an agreement could be concluded within "two or three days," while he also said the United States expected to achieve a “complete victory” over Iran within the next two weeks.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf framed the diplomatic track as conditional, writing on X that "We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages far more fluently," and warning, "If you break your commitments, we will resort to the language that we know best."

L'Orient Today added that Netanyahu told Israel’s inner security cabinet that Israel might have to continue the war against Iran without U.S. support, saying, "We may reach a situation in which we will have to confront the Iranians alone, without support from the United States."

The same Reuters account in MercoPress described the broader escalation as an exchange of blows between Israel and Iran, with Tehran firing missiles on Sunday in retaliation for Israeli bombings of Beirut and Hezbollah positions, and Israel responding by striking several Iranian cities.