The U.S. launched strikes against Iran on Tuesday, just hours after President Donald Trump promised to “respond” to the Monday night attack that brought down an Army Apache helicopter that was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Central Command said the “self-defense strikes” were initiated at 5 p.m. ET under Trump’s direction, in direct response to the attack.
“The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” U.S. Central Command wrote in a statement on X.
The White House did not respond to requests for additional details about the strikes. It remains unclear whether there were any casualties.
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Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, appeared to defend his country’s decision to shoot down the helicopter, citing broken U.S. “commitments.”
“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!” Ghalibaf wrote in a post on X just minutes before Trump said the U.S. was planning a response.
The president’s promise of retaliation followed comments he made to reporters early Tuesday that the helicopter pilots had been rescued and were “fine.”
U.S. Central Command also said Tuesday that American forces rescued the crew members of the Army AH-64 Apache after the aircraft went down near the coast of Oman. Central Command said the soldiers, who were picked up within two hours of the downing, were in stable condition.
The helicopter was struck by an Iranian Shahed drone, which is what brought it down, CNN reported.
The rescue marked the first operational use of an uncrewed surface vessel to recover U.S. personnel at sea. A Navy drone vessel rescued the pilots and transported them to a separate location on the water, where they were picked up by a helicopter.
“The surface drone that assisted in last night’s rescue of the Apache crew off the coast of Oman was a U.S. Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel operated by U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59. The Task Force began fielding these drones in theater in late March,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesperson, said in a statement.
Trump demanded Monday that Israel and Iran “immediately stop ‘shooting,’” as the nations traded long-range missile strikes for the first time since the U.S. agreed to a ceasefire with Tehran in April.
“Both sides, Israel and Iran, are looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Though Iran and Israel paused attacks, both sides cautioned that fighting could resume if there are further ceasefire violations.
Trump has reportedly said he would consider ending the ceasefire with Iran if Tehran kills American troops, suggesting a willingness to tolerate smaller skirmishes for weeks or months to avoid a broader war in the Middle East.But there’s increasing political pressure for the White House to end the war.
On Wednesday, the House passed a measure that seeks to halt Trump from taking further military action in Iran.Public opinion remains against the conflict. Nearly 60% of Americans say the U.S. made the wrong decision in using military force against Iran, according to a Pew Research Center survey published Tuesday.
Among Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party, 70% said the U.S. made the right decision in attacking Iran. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 90% say it was the wrong decision.A group of 38 Senate Democrats is refuting the Trump administration’s assertion that the Iran war has “terminated” and demanded more information about the legal argument behind the administration’s claim.
The lawmakers, led by Sens. Adam Schiff of California, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Chuck Schumer of New York, pointed to the ongoing naval operations, bombings, blockades and strike campaigns that have been ongoing since Feb. 28 to argue the war never stopped in a letter Monday.
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