{"id":725839,"date":"2026-06-09T19:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T19:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/725839\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T19:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T19:50:16","slug":"trump-says-iran-shot-down-american-military-helicopter-u-s-must-respond-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/725839\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says Iran shot down American military helicopter, U.S. \u2018must\u2019 respond – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> blamed Iran<\/a> for downing a U.S. Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday and said the United States \u201cmust\u201d respond to the attack.<\/p>\n

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A drone boat rescued two Army aviators who were aboard the Apache attack helicopter when it went down near the waterway that Iran has effectively closed during its war with the U.S. and Israel. Trump said in a social media post that both service members \u201care safe and uninjured.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

The helicopter went down as the Middle East was still reeling after\u00a0Iran and Israel exchanged fire\u00a0the previous day in the biggest blow yet to the strained ceasefire in the Iran war. Iranian state television reported Tuesday that the Israeli attacks killed at least two members of the country\u2019s air-defense units.<\/p>\n

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Since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28, the war has\u00a0shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics,\u00a0including food, more expensive.<\/p>\n

Officials have been unable to turn\u00a0the April ceasefire\u00a0into a deal to permanently end the conflict, particularly as Israel intensifies and expands its military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t4:28
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tU.S., Iran exchange strikes overnight, threatening shaky ceasefire\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tArmy crew members picked up by drone boat\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The crash happened about 3:30 a.m. local time Tuesday off the coast of Oman while the helicopter was on a patrol, U.S. Central Command said.<\/p>\n

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An unmanned boat located the two aviators after they spent about two hours in the water, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. He said it was the first known drone rescue at sea by the U.S. military.<\/p>\n

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Military officials did not say what caused the Apache helicopter to go down, saying the crash was under investigation. Trump said he had just learned Iran was responsible before posting his accusation Tuesday.<\/p>\n

AH-64 Apache helicopters have been a key asset for the American military as it enforces a blockade on Iranian crude oil shipments and tankers, seeking to pressure Tehran into a deal. The helicopters have also been used by the United Arab Emirates to shoot down Iranian drones.<\/p>\n

The drone used to perform the rescue was a 24-foot (7.3-meter) vessel called a Corsair, Hawkins said. It\u2019s manufactured by Saronic Technologies.<\/p>\n

The drone was assigned to the Navy\u2019s Task Force 59, established in 2021 as the Navy\u2019s first uncrewed and artificial intelligence unit that focuses on maritime security in the Middle East, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Suez Canal.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:51
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHezbollah disrupts potential ceasefire that may have ended US-Iran war\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tTrump insists an Iran deal is coming\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Before he accused Iran of downing the U.S. helicopter, Trump had expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have a good chance\u201d of signing a deal in \u201ctwo or three days,\u201d Trump said. But he didn\u2019t provide any details on why there was reason for new optimism. In the two months since the U.S. and Iran agreed to an initial ceasefire, Trump has repeatedly predicted that a deal is near.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal,\u201d the president said. \u201cIf we go and bomb \u2014 which we could do very easily if we want, and we spend another two or three weeks bombing \u2014 they\u2019ll have nothing left whatsoever. But you won\u2019t have the strait open for months.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He added: \u201cIf we do the bombing, you know, a lot of people are going to be killed. Who wants to do that? I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mediators, led predominantly by Pakistan, have been trying for weeks to get a deal across the line. However, both Iran and the U.S. have taken hard-line positions.<\/p>\n

The U.S. wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be entombed in the aftermath of American airstrikes that happened during the 12-day war in 2025. But Iran is refusing that and demanding relief from sanctions. It also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something rejected by Trump.<\/p>\n

Before Trump\u2019s comments on negotiations, Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Monday that Trump\u2019s remarks so far on a possible deal \u201ccontradicted the agreed-upon sections,\u201d showing that the U.S. is \u201cneither seeking a ceasefire nor dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is still a top Iranian priority as well. Lebanon\u2019s army chief, Gen. Rodolphe Haykal, traveled to Pakistan on Tuesday. There, he met Pakistan\u2019s army chief,\u00a0Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has been a key figure in the Iran-U.S. talks.<\/p>\n

Haykal\u2019s visit comes as Lebanon\u2019s government takes an increasingly hard line on Hezbollah but remains unable to disarm the powerful militia. Hezbollah thanked Iran on Tuesday for attacking Israel \u201cin defense of our Lebanese people,\u201d suggesting that Lebanon\u2019s government should take this opportunity to improve relations with Tehran.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:44
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUS, Iran continue trading strikes as peace talks drag on for weeks\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tIsrael issues a warning for Tyre, Lebanon\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for Lebanon\u2019s southern port city of Tyre, including the Christian quarter, which has so far been spared from airstrikes on the city.<\/p>\n

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Last week, Israel warned the Christian neighborhoods in Tyre that it believed Hezbollah members were among them. Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fled to those areas as Israeli strikes hammered the Mediterranean coastal area over the past two weeks.<\/p>\n

After last week\u2019s warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the Christian district of Tyre in an effort to prevent Israeli attacks there and to show that Hezbollah has no armed presence in the area. But Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military\u2019s\u00a0Arabic-language spokesperson, posted on X on Monday that the Israeli military \u201cwill have to act against their terrorist activities in the neighborhood soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Superville and Toropin reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in New York. Will Weissert in Washington, Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. President Donald Trump blamed Iran for downing a U.S. Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1376,43,5897,44,41,39,42,40,3275],"class_list":["post-725839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}