US strikes Iran days after Iran and Israel trade strikes

Tuesday morning, a US Army Apache helicopter went down in the near the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman. The two pilots of the helicopter were rescued a few hours later with a drone boat. According to President Trump, the pilots were not seriously injured.

While no official cause for the crash has been made public, an anonymous US official claimed the helicopter had collided with an Iranian drone. It’s unclear whether this collision was intentional, if it occurred. Nevertheless, Trump declared Iran responsible and authorized limited strikes on Iran’s coastal air defense facilities.

Unusually, Iran has not claimed responsibility for downing the Apache helicopter or offered any justification for it, something they are generally quick to do. However, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded to the latest US strikes on social media, saying Iran “will leave no attack or threat unanswered. Leave our region if you want to be safe”.

The incident puts a further strain on an already drawn out negotiation towards a peace settlement between the US and Iran. Over the weekend, Israel stuck the southern suburbs of Beirut in Lebanon, something Trump had previously urged them not to do. In response, Iran launched strikes against Israel, and Israel launched strikes against Iran. The incident could have escalated to full-blown hostilities, but both sides declared they would call it quits after Trump interceded. For at least the 38th time since late March, Trump declared that an Iran deal was nearing completion despite the flare up.

Trump says a return to full-scale conflict with Iran would mean “you won’t have the Strait open for months”.