President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the US will retaliate after Iran shot down a US military helicopter patrolling the strait of Hormuz.
"The United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack," Trump said in a social media post. The Pentagon said earlier that a US Army Apache helicopter went down near the coast of Oman in the early hours Tuesday, local time, and that the two crew members were safe. Trump was the first to confirm that it was an Iranian attack that brought down the US helicopter.
Low-intensity fighting between US and Iranian forces has flared up repeatedly since late May. The US has targeted Iranian military infrastructure around the strait of Hormuz and Iran responded with missile and drone attacks against vessels passing through the strait and US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The incident on Tuesday marks the first loss of a US military aircraft since the US and Iran declared a ceasefire on 8 April.
Despite fighting underway, Trump since 22 May has repeatedly described a US-Iran peace deal as practically finalized. "We have ongoing negotiations in Iran and with Iran, that hasn't stopped," Trump said late on Monday. "And we could have at least an idea by one or two days from now, but I think it's going well."
