The United States launched military strikes against Iran on Tuesday after President Donald Trump said Tehran had shot down a U.S. Army Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz, escalating an already fragile conflict and casting further doubt over prospects for a peace deal.
The U.S. military said it targeted Iranian air defense systems, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz, describing the operation as a “proportional response” to recent attacks on U.S. forces and commercial shipping. Strikes began at 5 p.m. ET and Central Command confirmed they had concluded just before 9 p.m. ET.
“I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that’s what this one is,” Trump told reporters.
Iran’s state media reported that Qeshm island and the port city of Sirik in the Strait of Hormuz were struck. Explosions were also heard in nearby Bandar Abbas and in the vicinity of Jask county near the entrance to the strait, according to Iranian media citing local residents.
Iran responded swiftly. The Revolutionary Guards said they attacked the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain with drones and threatened “more severe responses” if hostilities continued. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry sounded warning sirens and urged the public to seek safety. A media adviser to Bahrain’s King said air defenses had repelled the Iranian attacks.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned that Tehran would “leave no attack or threat unanswered.” In an earlier post, he stopped short of directly addressing the helicopter incident but said foreign forces in the region risked being caught in accidents or crossfire. “To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave,” he wrote.
The Apache was brought down by a one-way Iranian attack drone, according to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity. The helicopter had been on patrol in waters near Oman’s coast at around 3 a.m. Tuesday when it went down. Both crew members were rescued by a U.S. Navy unmanned surface drone within two hours and are in stable condition. Iran’s state media cited a military source as saying no offensive air operations had been conducted in the strait in the previous 24 hours.
Despite ordering the strikes, Trump appeared to downplay the severity of the initial incident. “It wasn’t a big deal,” he told the media, adding that “the pilot is fine.” The episode nonetheless threatens to further complicate efforts to broker a wider peace settlement. Trump has repeatedly said the two sides are close to an agreement, but there have been few signs of concrete progress since a tenuous ceasefire took effect in early April.
Iran’s demands for any peace deal include the lifting of international sanctions, the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets, and recognition of its control of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has said any agreement must ensure Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon.
The strait remains a critical flashpoint. Before the war, it carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Tehran has continued to block most shipping through the waterway, while Washington has imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Tuesday that ship traffic through Hormuz is rising but cautioned it would take many months to return to normal energy flows once the conflict ends. Oil prices climbed approximately one percent in early Asian trade on Wednesday following the latest escalation.
The strikes come as a parallel conflict continues to rage in Lebanon. Israel struck the historic port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least eight people in the deadliest attack on the city since fighting erupted in Lebanon in early March, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel. A video verified by Reuters showed debris scattered across a road at the strike site. Israeli troops operating near the Lebanese border also killed one person in a separate incident after coming under fire.
Israel has refused to halt its Lebanon campaign, which has killed thousands of people, insisting the conflict should be treated separately from any U.S.-Iranian ceasefire. Tehran has long maintained that any peace deal with Washington must include an end to the fighting in Lebanon, a condition Israel shows no sign of accepting. Hezbollah has also continued its attacks throughout the conflict, further complicating the diplomatic landscape.
Iran and Israel had also exchanged airstrikes earlier in the week, killing two people in Tehran.
