U.S. launches strikes on Iran after Apache helicopter incident near Hormuz

American forces launched retaliatory strikes against Iran after a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint where a single incident can quickly pull Washington deeper into a regional war. U.S. Central Command said the strikes began at 5 p.m. ET and were carried out as "self-defense strikes" and "a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression."

The helicopter was on patrol in regional waters off the coast of Oman when it went down on the previous day. Two Army aviators were rescued after spending about two hours in the water, and officials later said both were safe and uninjured. The cause of the downing remained under investigation, with officials saying it was still unclear whether the aircraft was hit by Iranian fire, suffered a mechanical failure or encountered another problem.

The U.S. response marked a sharp escalation even before the facts behind the crash had been fully settled. Donald Trump said he had been told Iran shot down the helicopter and said the United States "must, of necessity, respond to this attack." After the retaliatory strikes were announced, he added, "I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful."

Iran did not directly claim responsibility for the Apache’s loss. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said no offensive military operations had been carried out in the strait in the previous 24 hours. Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said foreign forces near Iranian territory were exposed to "human errors," accidents or crossfire and suggested they should leave.

The strikes came as the region was already strained by recent Iran-Israel exchanges of fire, a fragile ceasefire and stalled diplomacy. Trump had said just hours earlier that a deal with Tehran could be reached in "two or three days," but the helicopter incident appeared to push negotiations further off track. Iranian state media later reported explosions in areas around the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. strikes, underscoring how quickly a disputed aircraft loss could widen into a direct military exchange.