U.S. military launches strikes in retaliation for Iran downing helicopter

U.S. forces on Tuesday evening launched strikes against Iran “in response to yesterday’s downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter,” U.S. Central Command said.

The “self-defense strikes” are “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” Centcom said in an X post.

The latest clash undermines the U.S. ceasefire with Iran — which remains nominally active despite numerous outbreaks of fighting — and could put even a temporary peace deal even farther out of reach.

The strikes were ordered by President Donald Trump, who said earlier Tuesday that Iran shot down an American helicopter that was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, and that the U.S. would retaliate.

The two pilots involved in the attack “are safe and uninjured,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”

Iranian state media later Tuesday evening reported the sounds of explosions in multiple locations in the area surrounding the strait.

Iran will respond to the U.S. military actions, the country’s Tasnim News Agency reported.

Iran has not directly claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter, and Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that no offensive military operations had been carried out in the strait in the last 24 hours.

“Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement on X on Tuesday afternoon, prior to the U.S strikes.

“To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave,” Araghchi said, adding, “We prefer language of diplomacy but speak other languages too.”

Less than a day earlier, Trump claimed that a deal with Tehran could be reached as soon as this week.

The two sides are in the final stages of a “very, very good deal” that will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons and fully reopen the Hormuz Strait “immediately upon signing,” Trump said late Monday night after leaving an NBA Finals game in New York City.

Such a deal could be signed “in two or three days,” Trump added. But he has repeatedly claimed throughout the war, which crossed the 100-day mark on Sunday, that the U.S. and Iran were on the cusp of signing a deal. No deal has emerged.

Trump’s late-night comments came hours after the helicopter incident, according to Centcom, which said that the American AH-64 Apache had gone down “near the coast of Oman” on Monday evening at 7:33 p.m. ET.

In a statement Tuesday morning, Centcom did not initially blame Iran for the downing, saying the incident is under investigation.

The two soldiers involved in the crash were rescued within about two hours by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the 82nd Airborne Division, Centcom said.

Iran’s official broadcaster Press TV responded to Trump’s Truth post by mocking his frequent claim that the Iranian military has been destroyed by the U.S.

“So much for the Iranian military having been ‘obliterated’!” Press TV posted on Telegram.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, in an X post issued a cryptic threat similar to Araghchi’s statement.

“We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages far more fluently,” Ghalibaf wrote. “Break your commitments, and we’ll switch to what we speak best. You ride the horse you saddled!”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday is scheduled to travel to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Tampa, Florida, “to engage with troops at GTMO and CENTCOM,” the Pentagon said.

— CNBC’s Emma Graham and Megan Cassella contributed to this report.