Overview
- U.S. Central Command said forces began “self‑defense” strikes at 5 p.m. ET on June 9 on President Trump’s orders as a proportional response to the downing of an Army AH-64 Apache.
- U.S. officials say a one‑way Iranian attack drone struck the helicopter, but investigators have not established whether the strike was deliberate and Tehran denies intentionally targeting the aircraft.
- Both crew members were rescued in stable condition roughly two hours after the helicopter went down, with CENTCOM saying a U.S. unmanned surface vessel helped locate and recover them in a first‑of‑its‑kind operation.
- U.S. strikes were reported to have hit Iranian radar, air‑defense and command‑and‑control sites along the Gulf coast near Sirik, Qeshm and Bandar Abbas, and Iranian state media reported explosions and activated air defenses in Hormozgan province.
- The exchange heightens the risk of wider escalation by threatening the April ceasefire, imperiling talks between Washington and Tehran, and risking further disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and global energy markets.