US strikes Iran after Trump blames Tehran for downing army helicopter

(AP) — The United States military said Tuesday that it carried out strikes on Iran following the crash of an Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz that President Donald Trump blamed on the Islamic Republic. Tehran vowed to respond.

The strikes were “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” US Central Command said on social media. 

Iranian state media reported that explosions were heard on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane that Iran has effectively closed during the war, before saying the wave of American attacks in the south had “subsided.”

Trump said earlier in a social media post that Iran had shot down the aircraft while it was on patrol over the strait and declared that the US “must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”

Iran's top diplomat said foreign military forces near its territory “are at constant risk” and later vowed that there would be a response to the new US strikes.

Iranian forces “will leave no attack or threat unanswered,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on the social platform X. “Leave our region if you want to be safe.”

The downing of the helicopter and the strikes by the US military further strained a two-month ceasefire a day after Iran and Israel exchanged fire for the first time since the fragile truce took effect. Iranian state television said Tuesday that the Israeli attacks killed at least two members of the country’s air-defense units.

Since the US and Israel began striking Iran on February 28, the war has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive.

Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the conflict, particularly as Israel intensifies and expands its military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.

Before he accused Iran of downing the US helicopter, Trump had expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran.

“We have a good chance” of signing a deal in “two or three days," Trump said late Monday. But he did not provide any details on why there was reason for optimism. In the two months since the US and Iran agreed to an initial ceasefire, Trump has repeatedly predicted that a deal is near.

“We’re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal,” the president said.

Mediators, led predominantly by Pakistan, have been trying for weeks to get a deal across the line. However, both Iran and the US have taken hard-line positions.

The US wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be entombed in the aftermath of American airstrikes that happened during the 12-day war in 2025. 

But Iran is refusing that and demanding relief from sanctions. It also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something rejected by Trump.

Before Trump’s comments on negotiations, Qalibaf said Monday that Trump’s remarks so far on a possible deal “contradicted the agreed-upon sections," showing that the US is “neither seeking a ceasefire nor dialogue.”

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