United States President Donald Trump has ordered “self-defense” strikes on Iranian targets in response to the downing of an AH-64 Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian broadcaster Press TV reported that several projectiles struck the strategic island of Qeshm near the narrowest part of the Strait of Hormuz.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) described Trump’s order to attack as “self-defense strikes… in response to yesterday’s downing of a US Army Apache helicopter.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) almost immediately retaliated, hitting US military targets in Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait. The IRGC has published footage of missile launches it stated were aimed at American military facilities in several Arab countries, describing the operation as retaliation for recent US attacks, according to a report by RT.
US strikes were also reported in other parts of Iran’s southern Hormozgan Province.
Earlier on Tuesday, CENTCOM said the helicopter that started these renewed strikes had crashed off the coast of Oman while patrolling the area and that its two pilots had been rescued. Iran has not taken responsibility for the downing of the helicopter, with one official being quoted as saying “there was no deliberate attack” on the aircraft.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that US forces operating near Iranian territory “are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire.”
The IRGC claimed the American strikes damaged a telecommunications tower on Sirik Island and destroyed two water reservoirs in the Bemani district. It said its response included attacks on the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and four targets at Jordan’s al-Azraq air base, including hangars housing F-35 fighter jets. –RT
Shortly after the US instigated the strikes, Araghchi warned that Iran “will leave no attack or threat unanswered.”
“Leave our region if you want to be safe,” he warned the US military on X.
Not long ago, Trump claimed that a peace deal with Iran was getting close.
Israel Launches New Strikes Against Lebanon While Trump Claims Iran Deal Is Close
Iran threatened to suspend all negotiations last week after Israel struck Lebanon. Nearly 3,700 people have been killed since the Israeli Defense Forces resumed its military operation in response to attacks by Hezbollah. Tehran’s peace terms with the US include the cessation of fighting “on all fronts,” including Lebanon.
It still looks like that’s little more than a lie to placate the American public, which is becoming quickly tired of the high gasoline prices tied to this war, and the moral decay linked to it.