US strikes Iran in response to downing of helicopter

The US has launched strikes on Iran after President Donald Trump accused the country of shooting down a US helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz.

American forces began strikes at 17:00 EST (22:00 BST) on Tuesday in response to the helicopter downing, US Central Command (Centcom) said.

"The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression," Centcom said in a statement. Blasts were reported along the the coast of the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.

The two crew members of the downed US Apache helicopter were rescued by an American sea drone, Centcom said. It was the first time the US military publicly confirmed that type of vessel was used in such an operation.

"There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack."

According to US officials, Iran used a drone to launch the attack. But it's not clear whether the Iranian drone had deliberately attacked the helicopter, an unnamed US official told CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

Iranian media appeared to acknowledge the incident, with the semi-official Mehr News Agency reporting that Iran had not claimed responsibility for the downed aircraft.

Hours after the attack, Centcom announced the US had carried out strikes in Iran as a response. It called the strikes "a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression".

According to US new website Axios, the new strikes focused on Iranian defence and radar systems. Iranian state media reported that explosions were heard along the coast of the Persian Gulf, including in Bandar Abbas, Qeshm and Sirik.

In a phone interview with ABC News, Trump blamed Iran for the new US strikes.

"This is a response to what they did, they did with our helicopter last night, and I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that's what this one is," he said.

Back in Washington, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was in the room with Trump when he decided that US attacks on Iran should resume.

"We lament that it became necessary," said the top Republican in Congress, adding that "we're gonna have to take care of this business".

Iran's foreign minister issued a threat to the US in the aftermath, saying the country "will leave no attack or threat unanswered".

"Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the U.S. opted to test our determination," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.

He added: "Leave our region if you want to be safe."

The prospect of US military action against Iran emerged as Israeli forces carried out strikes across southern Lebanon on Tuesday.

Tehran had warned that Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon would trigger another wave of retaliatory strikes.

Araghchi said on Tuesday that foreign forces near Iran's territory were at "constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents or potentially being caught in crossfire".

"To reduce risk, best solution is for them [foreign forces] to leave," the Iranian leader said in a post on X.

On Tuesday, minutes before Trump's comments on the downed American Apache helicopter, Iran's top negotiator in peace talks with Washington, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, took to social media to signal retaliation.

"We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages far more fluently. Break your commitments, and we'll switch to what we speak best."

"You ride the horse you saddled!," he wrote.

Israel and Iran halted attacks on each other after exchanging fire over the weekend for the first time since April's truce.

Trump publicly told both countries to "immediately stop 'shooting'" because they were jeopardising negotiations between Washington and Tehran on a deal to end the regional war.

He said on Truth Social that Israel and Iran are looking to do "an immediate ceasefire" but peace is "subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way".

On Tuesday he also told journalists: "We're in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal," adding that it could take "two or three days" and the Strait of Hormuz would open immediately after.

Earlier, in its statement on Tuesday, US Central Command said the two crew members from the downed Apache had been rescued at 19:33 EDT (23:33 GMT) on Monday.

"Rescue efforts were led by US Naval Forces Central Command and the 82nd Airborne Division, with support from US Air Force and Navy units including US 5th Fleet's Task Force 59," the statement added.

A spokesman for Centcom told the BBC that the crew members were rescued by an unmanned surface drone that was operated by Task Force 59, a Bahrain-based unit launched several years ago.

The unit looks after "the operational deployment of unmanned systems teamed with manned operators to bolster maritime security across the Middle East region".

The drone rescued the soldiers and transported them to another location on the water where they were then hoisted up to a helicopter for further transport, a Centcom spokesperson said.

- BBC