By Trump says Iran shot down Apache helicopter, US must react
The pilots – who were patrolling the Strait of Hormuz – are safe, but the incident adds further strain to efforts to broker a peace deal
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran had shot down a US Apache helicopter that was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz overnight and vowed to respond, but gave no other details.
“I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
He said the two US pilots involved in the incident were both safe and uninjured.
“Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” he added.
His remarks threw into deeper uncertainty the prospects for a truce announced on April 8 in the war in the Gulf.
On Monday, Israel and Iran said they would halt attacks on each other after an appeal by Trump to end their first direct exchanges of fire since April, but Tehran warned it would resume hostilities if Israel continued to attack its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Originally published on www.scmp.com — View original