U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Iran shot down a U.S. Army Apache helicopter and vowed that Washington would respond. Iran denied any intent but warned it would respond strongly if the United States used the incident as grounds for hostile action. As tensions between the United States and Iran flare again, analysts say the ceasefire has reached its greatest crisis.
Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday: "I have just been informed by our great Military authorities that, last night, a state-of-the-art Apache helicopter, patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz, was shot down by Iran." He added: "There were two pilots on board the helicopter, but they are both safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must respond to this attack."
The U.S. military announced that around 3 a.m. Tuesday, a U.S. Army attack helicopter patrolling waters near the coast of Oman crashed, and a sea drone later located and rescued the two crew members. The New York Times (NYT), citing U.S. officials, reported that the Apache helicopter was shot down by a "Shahed attack drone," known as a "kamikaze drone" (referring to Japan's suicide squads during the Pacific War).
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) assessed that "the incident could shatter a ceasefire already made fragile by a small-scale clash in the Strait of Hormuz." However, in a telephone interview with the WSJ, Trump said the blockade measures against Iran "are making Iran very poor," and described the helicopter crash as "no big deal. The pilots are okay." This differed in tone from his Truth Social message vowing retaliation.
Amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran, Tehran is emphasizing that there was no intent involved in the helicopter crash. Tasnim News Agency, linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported, citing a well-informed military source, that "there were no offensive aerial military operations over the past 24 hours." Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, said in an interview with Al Jazeera that the U.S. Apache helicopter was not a deliberate target of an Iranian attack. He said such incidents could occur unintentionally because of the tense situation in the region.
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iran's parliament, stressed that Iran's military would respond at the highest level to any hostile act or attack. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker and chief negotiator, at the same time Trump signaled a response, wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages far more fluently." He added: "If promises are broken, we will switch to the language we speak best." This was interpreted to mean that while Iran prefers negotiations, it would respond with force if the United States carried out a strike. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also wrote on X that "foreign forces near our territory are constantly exposed to the risk of their own human error, accidental incidents, or potentially being drawn into conflict," arguing that "the best way to reduce the risk is for them to leave." This was interpreted as a message that Iran could strike U.S. military bases in the Middle East, so they should withdraw.
