US strikes Iran in response to downing of military helicopter
Gary O’Donoghue,Chief Correspondent for North America,
Peter Bowes,North America CorrespondentAnd
Harry Sekulich
Getty Images
The United States says it carried out a series of strikes against Iranian military and surveillance sites in response to the downing of a US helicopter in the Gulf.
Air defense systems, ground control stations and radar sites were targeted near the Strait of Hormuz, the US military Central Command (Centcom) said.
In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched strikes on 21 targets at US bases in the region, one in Bahrain and another in Jordan, while the Kuwaiti military said it was also intercepting an attack.
The United States described its strikes as “a proportional response” to the downing of the Apache helicopter on Monday, while the IRGC called the attacks “vicious.”
US President Donald Trump had previously accused Iran of shooting down the helicopter and said the US “must, of necessity”, respond. Both crew members survived and were rescued by a US maritime drone.
According to U.S. officials, Iran used a drone to launch the attack on the helicopter. But it is unclear whether the Iranian drone deliberately attacked, an anonymous US official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. The semi-official Mehr news agency reported that Iran had not claimed responsibility for the downed plane.
Trump said the helicopter was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping channel that was effectively closed days after the United States and Israel launched their first strikes against Iran in late February.
On Wednesday, the IRGC said the US strikes damaged a telecommunications tower and two water tanks, and added that the US had targeted the towns of Jask and Sirik, as well as Qeshm, a Gulf island.
U.S. officials have not yet commented on reports of attacks on its bases and it is unclear whether there has been any damage. However, an air alert was issued in Bahrain, according to local authorities who said the Iranian attacks had been repelled.
Iran’s foreign minister threatened the United States following the new US attacks, saying the country “will not leave any attack or threat unanswered.”
“Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the United States chose to test our resolve,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
He added: “Leave our area if you want to be safe. »
In Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was in the room with Trump when he decided that U.S. attacks on Iran should resume.
“We deplore that this has become necessary,” the top Republican in Congress said, adding that “we are going to have to take care of this matter.”
Araghchi said Tuesday that foreign forces close to Iranian territory face “constant risk due to their own human errors, simple accidents or the fact that they could be caught in the crossfire.”
“To reduce risks, the best solution is for them [foreign forces] leave,” the Iranian leader said in a message on X.
Minutes before Trump’s comments on the downing of the US Apache helicopter on Tuesday, Iran’s top negotiator in peace talks with Washington, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, took to social media to report retaliation.
“We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we are much more fluent in other languages. Break your commitments and we will move on to what we speak best.”
“You ride the horse you saddled!” he wrote.
The surge in violence between the United States and Iran comes after Israeli forces carried out strikes in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.
Tehran had warned that Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon would trigger a new wave of reprisals.
Israel and Iran ended their attacks after exchanging fire over the weekend for the first time since the April truce.
Trump publicly called on both countries to “immediately cease the ‘shooting'” because it was undermining negotiations between Washington and Tehran on a deal to end the regional war.
He said on social media platform Truth Social that Israel and Iran were seeking “an immediate ceasefire” but that peace was “subject to ignorance or stupidity standing in the way.”
On Tuesday, he also told reporters: “We are in the final moments of what will be a very, very good deal,” adding that it could take “two or three days” and that the Strait of Hormuz would be opened immediately afterward.
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