Kehinde Adegoke | International Agencies
U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered military strikes on Iran after a U.S. Army Apache helicopter was shot down near the Strait of Hormuz, escalating tensions in the strategic Gulf waterway despite ongoing diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran
US Central Command said in a statement that it has begun launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5pm ET today, at the Commander in Chief’s direction, in response to yesterday’s downing of a US Army Apache helicopter.
‘The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.’
The strikes remain ongoing, and it is not immediately clear which Iranian targets are under attack.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the Tasnim news agency, promised a ‘decisive response to the US aggression’.
Trump’s fresh strikes come just hours after he vowed revenge on Iran in a Truth Social post, warning: ‘The United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.’
US Central Command said two pilots were rescued from the Persian Gulf after their aircraft crashed off the coast of Oman. The helicopter was brought down by an Iranian Shahed drone, with one US official telling CNN it remains unclear whether the aircraft was deliberately targeted.
Trump’s order plunges the fragile ceasefire, which has held since early April, into chaos and comes just days after the President demanded Israel and Iran cease their attacks on each other.