WASHINGTON − The U.S. military launched strikes against Iran on June 9, hours after President Donald Trump vowed retaliation over the Islamic Republic’s downing of an American Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the region, said U.S. forces launched strikes against Iran at about 5 p.m. ET. Military officials described the attacks as “self-defense” strikes “in response” to the attack on the helicopter. The two pilots on board were unharmed and are safe, according to Trump.
Central Command called the attack “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.” The military command said they “struck Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites” near Hormuz.
Iranian state media indicated the U.S. struck targets in Bandar Abbas, Sirik, and Qeshm Island, two areas near Hormuz.
Military officials said that “the operation was a proportional response to recent attacks on U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters.”
Iran, according to state media, responded with attacks on the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. USA TODAY reached out to Central Command for confirmation.
U.S. military officials indicated they did not intend to continue barraging Iran with strikes, though the Islamic Republic, state media said, planned to continuously attack infrastructure targets in neighboring Gulf states, including water desalination plants.
The move to attack vital desalination plants comes in response, Iran said, to the United States striking two water tanks in the southern part of the country. Central Command declined to comment on Iranian allegations that the United States targeted the critical pieces of infrastructure.
The attack comes hours after Trump, in a June 9 post on Truth Social, said that the United States “must, of necessity, respond to this attack.” Renewed military action on Iran risks upending a fragile ceasefire between the two nations and could derail Trump’s negotiations with Iran on a peace deal.
The crew of the Apache gunship was rescued on Monday, June 8, after the aircraft went down near the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman. Trump said the helicopter was patrolling over the strait but did not provide additional details about the attack.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi appeared to acknowledge Iran’s responsibility for the helicopter attack in a statement posted on social media. He said foreign forces in Iranian territory are “at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire.
“To reduce risk, the best solution is for foreign forces to exit, as soon as possible, an environment which will never be hospitable to a foreign presence,” Araghchi said. “Iran prefers the language of diplomacy. However, as our Brave Warriors have shown to the world, we know other languages too.”
Trump initially discussed the attack with reporters early Tuesday in New York after attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The United States at that time had still not determined who was responsible, but Trump said the two pilots were fine and no one had been injured.
In the same exchange with reporters — before his threat to retaliate against Iran — Trump expressed hesitance about renewing military action against Iran.
Trump said if the United States were to “spend another two or three weeks” bombing Iran, then they would have “nothing left whatsoever,” but the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed for months. The closing of the Strait of Hormuz, which has faced competing blockades from the United States and Iran, has resulted in higher U.S. gas prices.
“If you do the bombing, you know, a lot of people are going to be killed. Who wants to do that? I don’t,” Trump said, adding that a signed agreement with Iran would be “actually stronger than the bombing.”
Trump said the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz has “turned out to be much stronger than bombing” because it has cut Iran off from trade. “Their economy is really suffering,” he said.
Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed in the war in Iran, which Trump launched in late February with airstrikes. Trump has frequently made the point that the casualties in Iran are vastly fewer than the deaths during past American conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
The helicopter attack happened a day after Iran and Israel said they had halted attacks on each other following an appeal from Trump, though Tehran warned it would resume hostilities if Israel continued to hit Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Despite the renewed fighting, Trump said he believes Iran wants to secure a peace deal with the United States, which he has said repeatedly during negotiations without an agreement resulting.
“We should be able to do it in one hour, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told reporters in New York. “I don’t think there are any sticking points. I think we’re very close to having a very good, strong, powerful deal.”
Contributing: Reuters
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.